Home
by MegEvans1983
Summary: Andy returns from the taskforce, and she and Sam have to each contemplate what they want. A lot has changed at 15 Division in the past six months, and so have they.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **A multi-chaptered story from yours truly :) It deals w/ Andy's return from the taskforce, and how she and Sam attempt to fix their relationship.

This story is spoilerishy, as some parts are taken from the spoilers / pictures we've gotten from the cast / writers, while others are just what I would like / want to see happen in season four :)

I've written the story in present-tense, except for the flashbacks, which are in past-tense.

Hope you enjoy, and if you have any ideas for what to happen down the line, let me know, I'm open to suggestions ;)

Now, on to the story ...

* * *

**[****I****]**

Whoever said _'rules are here for a reason' _is a damn moron according to Andy McNally. One of the many rules you have to follow according to her mom's self-help book is never to get bored, and to surround yourself with activities.

So, that's why on her first Saturday off in six months, Andy is spending it at the park playing basketball with Leo.

"Auntie Andy!" Leo exclaims upon seeing her standing on their doorstep wearing her sweats as well as holding a basketball under her arm.

"Hey there, Dude," she playfully ruffles his hair before he scurries further into the house – undoubtedly to fetch his bag. Andy closes the door behind her before following in Leo's footsteps.

"Am I to guess _my_ best friend Andy's here?" Traci jokingly asks meeting up with Andy in the living room.

"Hey, Trace," Andy greets her friend before being pulled into a tight bear hug. "Wauw," she breathes at the strength of the hug.

"Don't go disappearing on me like that again, McNally," Traci chastises her.

"Okay," Andy acquiesces. It's not like she wanted to leave everyone and everything behind. She had wanted a fresh start; a clean slate so to speak. But driving away from Toronto with Luke and Nick had been heart wrenching. She had felt like she had been split right down the middle. The rational part of her; her head knew that it was for the best, and that focusing on her career was what she needed to do. The emotional part of her; her heart wanted to forget about the taskforce and instead meet up with Sam at _The Penny_ and try again. But doing that, meant opening her heart up to him again – and could she do that? After having built up that proverbial wall around it? Besides, if he loved her, the way he said he did, he would wait for _her_. He would wait for _them_. But had he?

"Yes," Traci nods her head to Andy's musings. When she quirks a speculative eyebrow, Traci adds, "he has missed you too."

_Sam_.

* * *

"_I'm telling you – you're making a mistake!" Candace O'Leary yelled at the tenacious rookie cop, who was towing her into booking._

_Candace O'Leary's a petite brunette, who, considering her small body frame had the strength to fight Price on the entire trip from the squad and into booking. Her attitude had been nothing short of rude, her appearance was that of a crack addict; a ribbed pair of jeans, a white tank top and a raggedy hoody. Her hair looked dirty and she smelled like she'd spent the night on the floor of a public bathroom, which was probably why her T.O. had disappeared as soon as she could. Not that Chloe's complaining about __**that**__. She knew better than to badger the likes of Training Officer Marlo Cruz. _

"_Keep talking," rookie cop Chloe Price told her entering booking. "You were about to make a sale – I caught you," she added._

"_Haven't you been to cop school, rookie?" Candace asked eyeing her with a raised eyebrow. "About to make a sale isn't enough," she continued. "My lawyer's gonna have a field day with this," she scoffed as Price began to empty her pockets onto a tray._

"_Lawyer?" Price squawked. "You don't look __**or**__ smell like you can even afford to take a bath once in the blue moon." _

"_Alright ladies – cool it!" the bulbous voice of Oliver Shaw interjected. "Officer Price what do you have?" he asked munching on his lunch, as he entered booking. He didn't look at the two women – completely consumed by his delicious BLT._

"_Candace O'Leary, 30 years of age – caught while attempting to make a sale," Price informed him in police speech, as the woman of the hour took a cautionary look around the room. The handcuffs rattled, as she attempted to restore blood flow to her fingers._

_Oliver dried his greasy fingers with a napkin before shucking it into the paper basket next to the desk. Once he finally looked up at the women before him, he was taken aback. _

_Why? Because Candace O'Leary was in fact Andy McNally. _

_The woman standing before him however didn't look like the McNally, who had left them all six months ago. Gone was the radiant smile, piercing brown eyes and immaculate aura that always seemed to have surrounded her. _

_But even so, it was her. _

_Oliver was beyond thrilled to see her; but he could only imagine the thunder that would undoubtedly roll through 15 Division when a certain someone found out that she was back._

_Speaking of Sam – where the hell was he?_

* * *

"_Finally!" Traci Nash exclaimed shutting her computer off, elated that her and Sam had finished off their most challenging case to date._

"_Coffee?" Sam asked standing next to her desk holding out a mug of coffee to her. _

_Traci looked up at him gratefully before accepting the mug of brown liquid from him. "Thanks."_

"_You did good, Nash," he complimented her perching on the edge of her desk._

"_Thanks, you too, Swarek," Traci complimented him right back. She might be the detective in training, but Sam wasn't exactly a seasoned Detective. They were both still learning the ropes of this job, and it was actually comforting for Traci that they were both still getting their feet wet. True, Sam had the benefits of having been on the streets for years and doubled together with her emotional ability to read and dig into the human depths of their victims, witnesses and suspects – they were the perfect team._

"_Thank you," he told her. "How's the little guy doing?" Sam asked eying the picture on her desk, that for the past six months had driven a proverbial knife through his heart every time he'd looked at it, which had pretty much been every, single damn day of the week._

_There were three people in the picture. All three were wearing baseball caps – Leo was wearing a big smile, while the two women on each side of him were wearing plastered-on smiles on their faces. Which made sense since the picture was taken no more than three weeks after Jerry's death and therefore his and Andy's breakup. Still, every time he looked at her face looking back at him, it was like someone stomping on his heart. _

_Dragging his gaze away from the picture, he noticed that Traci was looking at him with a question in her deep brown eyes, and for the first time he noticed the woman standing by the entrance to their office; Marlo Cruz._

_Sam realized that he'd probably been zoned out for a while, and by the looks on both Traci and Marlo's faces they'd probably been calling his name for a while. "What's up?" he asked clearing his throat, as Marlo moved further into the room._

"_I need a moment," she told Sam, indicating that it was for his ears only._

"_Is it about work?" he asked standing up from the desk._

_He and Marlo had back in their academy days been involved - romantically. It hadn't worked out for reasons that he didn't feel like dissecting right now. But even now, years later, he had the inkling that she wanted them to try again. The only problem with that particular scenario? He wasn't interested. The truth of the matter was that for four years now there was only one woman he'd been interested in, and despite the current state of their relationship, that was still the case. _

"_Yes." Marlo answered moving her eyes from Sam to Traci and then back again. Clearly she wanted some privacy, but if it was work related there was no reason why Nash couldn't hear it too. That, and then the fact that he was in no mood to be playing games right now._

"_In that case, you can tell both of us. Nash and I are partners, and anything work related will eventually make its way to her ears as well." Sam told Marlo, shooting her request down making her avert her eyes from his. "Spit it out," Sam urged her on._

_But what came out of her mouth next, stifled him. _

* * *

"_Who are you riding with today?" Oliver asked Price pulling Andy from her reverie. _

"_Cruz," she offered up taken aback by Shaw's harsh attitude. Being Frank Best' Goddaughter hadn't exactly earned her any points with the T.O.'s. Oliver was the only T.O. who had seen her for __**her**__, and not as some helpless girl, who supposedly couldn't get into the job without having a connection with one of the higher ups at 15 Division. Which was also why his attitude shocked her - had she done something wrong?_

"_Where is she?" Oliver demanded to know. Marlo Cruz had been at 15 Division for a couple of months now. An old academy friend of his and Sam's, who was also a no-nonsense type of a cop. _

"_Said she had something to discuss with Detective Swarek." Price answered biting her lower lip in apprehension._

'_**Detective Swarek?'**__ Andy thought to herself – when the hell did that happen?_

"_So, she just left you alone to deal with __**this**__?" Oliver stated incredulously, indicating Andy with his flailing hands._

"_It's no trouble, Sir," Chloe interjected not wanting to get her T.O. into trouble. There was something about Cruz that scared her on one level, yet implored her to work harder on another._

"_I don't mind," Andy snottily remarked making Oliver roll his eyes._

"_Did you read her rights to her?" he asked Price, who got a __**'deer caught in the headlights'**__ look on her pale face. _

"_Err…" Price stammered and Andy immediately felt bad for her. It hadn't been __**that**__ long ago she herself had been a rookie – forgetting to turn her radio on and running a certain undercover cop down in a back alley. _

"_Let's go!" Oliver suddenly exclaimed grabbing Andy's handcuffed hands leading her out of booking with a protesting Chloe behind him. "Not a single word," he warned Andy, as they walked further into the Division._

"_Wouldn't dream of it, Officer," she muttered smiling secretly to herself. She had missed Oliver; he'd always been one of her favorites. He was so life-like. So filled with faults, but dedicated to his family and the job._

* * *

_When they entered one of the interrogation rooms, and Oliver shut the door closed – he immediately unlocked the cuffs before turning Andy around._

"_Christ, McNally!" he exclaimed placing his hands on her shoulders giving her a thorough once-over with his piercing blue eyes. _

"_I'm fine, Oliver, really," Andy tried to placate his obvious worry. Oliver had always been the one T.O., who'd taken each rookie on personally and helped them out – much like a father figure, really._

"_That makes one of us, because when Sam finds out," Oliver whistled rolling his eyes to high heaven indicating that all hell would break lose when that happened._

'_**If he finds out'**__, Andy thought to herself._

"_Wait here. Stay," Oliver told her, as if talking to a dog. Andy rolled her eyes at the sentiment as he left the room._

_**FUCK! **__This was __**not **__supposed to happen! Why had that rookie even been in that alley? And why had that Cruz person looked at her like that? Andy sure as hell didn't know her._

_How about __**Detective**__ Swarek – when had __**that **__happened and why? As an homage to Jerry? To try and forget about her? Ever since Andy had known him – Sam had had nothing but disdain for detectives – except for Jerry of course – or maybe that disdain for detectives had merely been directed at Luke?_

_Luke – crap! Not to mention Nick – double crap!_

* * *

"_I already know!" Sam snapped when Oliver met him right outside the interrogation room. "I'm going in there," Sam told him, but his best friend and colleague didn't budge an inch. _

"_No, you're not!" Oliver maintained. No way was he letting him burst in, guns blazing and deteriorating Andy from the work she still had to do._

"_Shaw, I haven't seen her for six months," Sam said._

"_None of us have," Traci chimed in when she and Marlo joined them outside the interrogation room._

"_How do you guys even __**know**__?" Oliver asked. Sam and Traci both pointed at Marlo causing Oliver to raise a questioning eyebrow at the woman in question._

"_I noticed the photograph on Traci's desk a couple of days ago, and then I recognized her after Price had gotten her into the squad car," she tried to explain._

"_And you of course rushed in to tell __**him**__?" Oliver asked sarcastically pointing a fixed finger at Sam. He knew that Sam and Marlo had picked up their friendship where they'd left it after the academy. They had always been better friends than lovers, but according to what little Sam had told him about their relationship it had taken a lot of heartache on Marlo's part to come to that realization. Their relationship had been more on her terms than Sam's, but they were now in a place where they could joke and flirt with each other without there being a weird vibe between them._

"_I'm going in there!" Sam exclaimed pointing his finger at the door leading into the interrogation room. "I don't care what you say, Shaw," he maintained, his frustration tangible._

"_Then maybe you'll listen to __**me**__!" Frank exclaimed joining their conversation. "No one enters that room unless they're wearing __**this **__shirt," he told them fingering his white shirt, while fixing Sam with a determined gaze._

"_Frank?" Oliver asked needing answers to his many questions._

"_It's an order from up top," he offered up._

"_This is __**crap**__!" Sam gruffly told his Staff Sergeant, sighing heavenly before walking into a room to sit down abruptly on a chair. He cradled his head in his hands, while Traci and Marlo looked on._

"_Keep an eye on him, Cruz," Frank told her in a tone of voice that gave her no option but to comply._

"_Yes, Sir," Marlo told him with a nod of the head before he walked into the interrogation room_

"_So, their operation is close to being finished?" Traci asked no one in particular. _

_Her question remained unanswered._

* * *

"So, how do I do this Auntie Andy?" the ever tenacious Leo asks her an hour later when they are standing on a basketball court in the inner part of Toronto – roughly a five minute walk from Sam's. Which isn't why she chose _this_ particular court – it _is_ one of the best courts in town plus there are hardly ever anyone playing this early on a Saturday morning.

Besides that then this particular court holds fond memories for Andy, memories she's tried to eradicate for the past six or seven months.

* * *

"_Come on, __**McNally**__!" Sam had growled at her, as she was dribbling the ball in front of him, and he tried to cover her. She had literally been kicking his ass all morning at basketball. _

_His usual opponent; namely Jerry sucked __**almost **__as bad at this sport as he did, but only almost. But then McNally was a lot prettier to look at. She was wearing a pair of kaki sweat pants doubled with a white tank top and her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head with ringlets cascading down her sweaty face. _

_She was a vision to behold; panting hard and licking her upper lip coated in sweat contemplating her next move._

"_Had enough, Swarek?" she teased him, as she feinted a move to the right before going to the left and making a bank shot._

"_Now I have," Sam groaned bending forward to catch his breath, resting his hands on his legs._

"_You don't say?" Andy giggled walking towards him, ecstatic over the fact that there was one thing she was better at than Sam Swarek – basketball._

"_I do say," he replied yanking her hard against his rigid and sweaty body, Andy felt every single muscle in her lower body clench at the realization of what would undoubtedly come next._

"_Now what, Swarek?" Andy asked giving him a small peck on the lips, brown eyes connecting._

"_Shower time, McNally, shower time," Sam winked at her as they forgot all about the game they were supposed to be playing, and began to play a new one – undoubtedly still involving sweat, panting and well, __**them**__._

* * *

"Come over here, Dude," Andy waves him over and proceeds to show him how to make a 3-pointer. "Now you try," she urges him on.

He checks his feet to see if he's standing in the right spot, and when Andy nods her head encouragingly, he does a small jump before tossing the ball.

"I did it!" Leo beams with his big brown eyes.

"Awesome!" Andy grins at him.

Without Andy's knowledge, someone has been watching her and Leo. That someone catches Leo's eye, and he lights up from within.

"Uncle Sammy!" he happily exclaims upon finding Sam standing a few yards away, his hands perched on his hips and a careful smile hovering on his lips.

"Hey there, Buddy – looking good," Sam tells Leo, blatantly ignoring Andy, as he walks towards them.

"Thanks," he beams soaking up the praise from his Uncle Sammy. In the time Andy has been absent from both of their lives, Sam has become an integral part of Leo and Traci's lives. Many months prior – even before she left for the taskforce he had made a promise to Jerry, sitting in front of his tombstone at the cemetery.

* * *

"_I will look after them for you, Jerry. You said I always had your back, well now I'm proving it to you. I will look after your family for you, brother."_

* * *

With that solemn vow, he had taken on a new path for himself. A path that he at the time had hoped could've paved a new road for him and Andy. But then she had left, and he'd been left behind, _again_. But instead of burying himself in a deep, dark hole he had kept his promise and looked after Traci and Leo, while simultaneously studying to become a Detective. That way he could also keep an eye on Nash for his best friend.

'_So, now he's not even talking to me,'_ Andy muses to herself when Sam is still refusing to acknowledge her presence.

But maybe that is exactly what she deserves? She _did_ leave him behind, but it hadn't been an easy decision to make. Right now, despite everything she's learned on the taskforce, she wishes she'd stayed six months ago, and had made it to _The Penny_. But she hadn't and that's precisely where the problem lies.

"Auntie Andy is a great teacher," Leo smiles big looking up at his coach gratefully.

"I can see that," Sam says, and finally his eyes rise to meet hers, and if she doesn't know any better, she'd swear that it's a smile she sees hovering on his lips – directed at her.

"I'm gonna go practice some more," Leo suddenly declares running to the basket hoop on the opposite side of the court, leaving Sam and Andy alone.

The tension in the silence between them is pivotal and tangible. Neither of them will look the other in the eye or start the line of communication first.

"He seems better," Andy says looking in Leo's direction. She knows it's a cop out, but she's in unchartered territory here.

"He is," Sam confirms with a firm nod of the head. "But then again – a lot can happen in six months." It's a verbal blow to the gut and it hits Andy good and hard.

"So," she starts after having seemingly recovered. "How have you been?" she asks shifting on her feet.

"Ah, just great, McNally!" he retorts angrily before adding, "never been better. That is when I finally figured out you'd given up on us," his tone of voice is harsh and drives straight to the point.

"I never…" Andy begins, but Sam holds his hand up to stop her. The look she finds staring back at her breaks her heart into tiny little pieces all over again. It may not be raining, and they may not be standing in a parking lot behind _The Penny_, but seven or so months later, the feeling's exactly the same.

"I'll see you around," he tells her before saying goodbye to Leo, and just like that he walks away as if he had never been there in the first place.

"Are you okay, Auntie Andy?" Leo asks her sensing that something is off.

"Yeah," Andy whispers, as she watches Sam disappear from her view. "I'm fine," putting on a brave face she looks down at Leo.

"Can we practice some more?" he asks her optimistically. Andy nods her head as they begin practicing again.

* * *

Andy is lying in her bed trying to beckon sleep to come to her. In the short amount of time she's been back in her condo, it still feels strangely unfamiliar. She feels cold, alone and utterly lost – feelings she's grown accustomed to for the past seven months. Andy clutches a pillow to her chest, tears cascading down her cheeks as she comes to a very chilling realization.

* * *

"_You don't have to do anything, I'm gonna do it all."_

"_I'm gonna show you, every single day, until you say yes."_

"_I'm gonna cook you dinner, I'm gonna take out your garbage, I'm gonna walk your dog."_

"_Boo Radley; I've always loved that for a dog."_

* * *

She's lost him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **First I want to thank you all for the wonderful reviews, alerts and favorites :)

As for Sam in this story, then I see their break-up from both POV's, and I will continue to do so throughout the story, because that's how I see them. Just to clarify why Sam said / did what he did in the first chapter.

I'm planning on writing about the epic truck scene in the next chapter, so if you have any ideas, please let me know - either through reviewing or PM'ing me.

Thanks for the continued support :)

But on to the second chapter now ...

* * *

**[II]**

"You coming?" Traci asks Sam a week later, as she's about to take off.

"Where?" Sam asks pretending to be occupied with his work, but Traci knows better.

"You know where!" she admonishes him. He's known for the past couple of days, that Andy's having a get-together at her condo.

"I don't think I'll be able to make it, Nash," Sam tries to cover. He's been acting like an ass to Andy for the past week, looking himself in the mirror is becoming harder and harder by now.

"Don't do that!" Traci snaps at him growing tired of this mouse-and-cat game between him and Andy.

"What?" he asks surprised by her outburst throwing the pen he was making notes with on the table in frustration.

"I get that you're mad at her, alright?" she tells him. "I was too, but she's back now. She's _here_, Sam," Traci adds hoping to get through to him.

"I'm not _mad_ at _her_," Sam tries to explain earning him a raised eyebrow from Nash. "I'm mad at myself, alright?!" Sam regretfully snaps at her. "I'm sorry," he apologizes closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with a guttural sigh.

"It's okay," she tries to placate him.

"No, it's not," Sam leans back in his chair looking up at her. "It's nowhere close to being okay, Nash. I don't even know who the hell I am anymore," he sighs getting up from the chair and leaving the room.

* * *

"Here we go!" Claire exclaims unpacking the shopping bags containing food for the party tonight. Since the taskforce, their relationship has started from square one again. Helping out with parties seems to be a natural thing for Claire McNally.

"Thanks, mom," Andy tells her mother gratefully, as they unpack the groceries.

Claire is taken aback by Andy's attitude though. She had thought that going on that taskforce would've been good for her, to get her mind off of Sam, and to focus on just her. But the Andy standing beside her wasn't the one that had left Toronto six months ago. Somehow she had ended up worse than when she had left.

"Andy," she starts turning to face her daughter.

"What?" Andy quickly looks at her before unpacking more bags. It isn't until Claire places a hand on her arm that she stops her motions.

"What is wrong?" she asks.

"Nothing," Andy denies shaking her head. Getting into her failed relationship with Sam isn't really something she feels up to right now. Especially considering what she had witnessed going down earlier today between Sam and Marlo.

* * *

"_It hurts, eh? Losing a bet," Marlo teased Sam as he entered the viewing room. They had bet $100 whether the perpetrator in the interrogation room was guilty or not. Marlo thought he was, but Sam didn't. Just five minutes ago, Sam had gotten him to confess, so it was pay-up time._

"_Stow it, Cruz!" he snapped playfully at her, his eyes twinkling. Grabbing his wallet from his back pocket, he playfully added, "you take Visa?"_

"_No," Marlo tapped her finger against her cheek contemplating an idea. "But Pizza Liberetto does," she told him smiling. "I'm free tonight incidentally," Marlo added watching as Sam's facial expression changed from being relaxed, to panicked to sad, as the door to the interrogation room opened, and they both came face to face with Andy and Traci._

"_What's going on in here?" Traci voiced both of their thoughts, as Andy remained silent, her brown eyes boring into Sam's – the hurt evident in them. _

"_Oh, just congratulating Swarek here on a job well-done," Marlo told them. "You needed something, McNally?!" she curtly asked Andy, who she'd been riding with today._

"_Not a thing," Andy softly replied before practically tearing out of the interrogation room._

"_Excuse me?" Sam told Marlo and Traci, as he scurried after Andy. _

"_What are you doing?" Traci asked Marlo accusingly. _

"_Conversing with a colleague," she simply replied._

"_They love each other," Traci told her._

"_I know Sam loves __**her**__, but if the feelings mutual then she's got one hell of a way to show it," Marlo replied as she left Traci alone in the viewing room._

* * *

"Is this about Sam?" Claire asks knowing instantly that she's right.

"Why would you say that?" Andy asks closing the fridge after having put the groceries away.

"Honey, please," she implores her placing her hands on Andy's slumped shoulders. "I'm a great listener," Claire tells her daughter.

"There's nothing to tell," Andy says shrugging her shoulders.

"There's always _something_ to tell."

* * *

_Sam found her by the coffee machine, hitting the thing when it wouldn't work and give her what she wanted. He took a deep breath before nearing her._

"_Need some help?" he asked her causing Andy to twirl around towards him with stormy eyes._

"_Sam, I'm __**fine**__," she drawled out the word, clearly agitated. _

"_Clearly," he replied cockily, while reaching over to get her her usual mug of coffee. His musky scent, his bulging biceps in the red shirt he was wearing today along with the tight jeans he was sporting was making him close to irresistible to Andy. But the realization of what was undoubtedly happening between him and Cruz pulled her out of her reverie._

"_I'm not that thirsty after all!" Andy snapped stopping Sam in mid-motion holding the mug of coffee in his hand._

"_McNally?!" he yelled after her, as she made her way to a desk to finish up her report. He looked at the mug of coffee in his hand with disdain before pouring it down the drain._

* * *

"Any words of wisdom?" Andy asks her mother with a certain amount of disdain apparent in her tone of voice.

"There's no need to get nasty about it," Claire retorts. "I'm not the one who broke up with you in a parking lot, nor did I give you back the keys to my truck on a whim or push you away when I needed you most, that was _him_, honey," she adds.

"I know, I'm sorry," Andy immediately apologizes realizing that taking it out on her mother isn't the answer to anything.

"It's okay," she says.

"Thanks for all your help, mom," Andy tells Claire giving her an awkward hug.

"It was my pleasure, honey," Claire envelops Andy in her arms, wishing she could take away her daughter's pain, but sadly realizing that it isn't her battle to fight.

* * *

Later that evening, the party is in full swing. The music is cranked up on the roof top, the drinks are going around as well as the food and people are enjoying themselves.

"Hey," Traci hollers at her, as she and Leo arrives.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Andy asks after having hugged both of them. "There are hotdogs and burgers on the grill courtesy of Chris and Dov."

"Honey, you go ahead and get something to eat, we'll be right inside," Traci tells her son, as Andy senses there's something her best friend needs to discuss with her.

"What is it, Trace?" Andy asks, as they walk into the condo to get away from the loud music.

"What's going on with you and Sam? I thought coming back home meant you were going to make it work with him?" Traci asks impatiently.

"I am, I was…" Andy corrects herself and is also taken aback by Traci's attitude.

"Meaning?" Traci asks.

"Trace, it's pretty obvious that Sam isn't interested," she tells her.

"Where did you get _that_ from?" Traci asks baffled.

"Does the name Marlo Cruz ring a bell?" Andy sarcastically responds.

"Marlo? They're just _friends_, Andy. Nothing more," she tells her.

"How do you know that? Because there sure as hell wasn't a friendly vibe in the viewing room earlier today," she fiddles with her fingers trying to occupy herself from her dark thoughts.

"Because _he_ told me," Traci replies causing Andy to look her in the eyes - a look of pure shock on her face. "When Marlo first started working at 15, Sam told me they'd been involved at the academy, but that it had been over for years, and that he wasn't the least bit interested in her that way."

"You sure?" Andy asks feeling a ray of hope shining in the pit of her stomach.

"I am," Traci tells her nodding her head. "But the more important question is - are you sure? About you and Sam?" she asks.

* * *

"Pizza Liberetto seems like a better idea than this…" Marlo comments as she and Sam are making their way to Andy's condo in the elevator.

"I need to make sure she's okay, besides, there's food here too," Sam tells her, as they get off the elevator and make their way to the condo.

"Hey," she grabs his arm making him look her in the eyes. "Just don't go in there selling your soul, alright? _She_ left _you_, you don't owe her anything."

"That's where you're wrong," Sam clarifies, as he turns out of her grasp to open the front door. When they enter the condo, the music is still booming from the roof top, a few people are in the living room talking, while the door to Andy's bedroom is slightly ajar, a small light illuminating the doorway. "You go ahead, and I'll be right behind you," he tells Marlo, as he makes his way to the bedroom door.

"You think you and Uncle Sammy will ever get back together again?" Leo asks cradled in Andy's arms, as they're sitting on her bed watching a game on the TV.

"I don't know, Dude, I really don't know," Andy places a soft kiss on Leo's forehead as she closes her eyes shut.

Sam is taken aback by the sight in the bedroom, he stays out of sight, so they won't see him, but it hurts him that they're both hurting because of him.

"I miss Jerry," Leo suddenly says, as Andy gathers him closer to her.

"I know, sweetie, we all do."

"Uncle Sammy misses him too, but not like he misses you. Mommy says that Jerry being gone is like a part of her heart's missing. Is it like that for you too?" Leo asks.

"Pretty much, yeah. It's a good thing you and your mom still talk about Jerry, he loved you very much, Leo," Andy tells him, as she tightens her hold on him.

Sam makes his way to the couch area, where he catches a glimpse of a framed photograph in a frame that used to hold a picture of just him and Andy. The frame is white with small stars attached to it. Himself, Andy, Jerry and Traci are in the photograph smiling back at him. The photograph had been taken a few weeks prior to Jerry's death, when they'd been at Jerry and Traci's for dinner discussing their wedding.

* * *

"_Here's to us," Jerry said holding up a glass of champagne as he first clinked glasses with Traci and then adding Sam and Andy to the mix._

"_So, have you decided on where to have the wedding?" Andy asked, as she felt Sam's hand playing with the path of skin left bare on her lower back by her black top. The tantalizing feeling of his warm fingers on her sensitive skin was driving her mad. _

"_Nothing definite yet, but we're working on it," Traci told her before looking at Jerry giving him a small peck on the lips. "I love you."_

"_I love you too," Jerry responded right away, no hesitation._

_Andy was jealous of the sentiment. A couple of days ago she had said those three little words to Sam, and __**still**__ no reply. True, she had told him that she didn't need him to say it back, but truthfully? She did. She wanted to hear those words, she needed to hear them._

"_Hey," Sam whispered against her temple making Andy turn her head towards him. "I'm glad you're here," he said before pressing a soft kiss against her lips. _

"_Enough of this!" Jerry exclaimed standing up abruptly, fetching his camera before setting it up to take a photograph of the four of them._

"_Come on Jerry," Sam groaned frustrated, as Andy and Traci shared a knowingly look._

"_Shut it, Swarek," Jerry shot right back, as he and Traci joined them on the couch, each couple sitting next to each other, the men's arms slung across the women's shoulders, smiling big at the camera as it flashed capturing this particular moment in time._

* * *

"Uncle Sammy!" Leo exclaims upon finding Sam standing in the living room, as he and Andy have exited the bedroom.

"Hey there, Buddy," Sam puts on his best smile squatting down, so he's in the same eye level as Leo. When he looks up, he notices Andy looking down at him, smiling.

"I didn't know you were coming tonight?" Leo tells him.

"Is it a problem, Buddy? Maybe you want _your_ Auntie Andy all to yourself, eh?" Sam smiles at Leo, as Andy looks at him confused.

"Nope," he pipes up, as he heads to the roof top leaving them alone in the living room.

"We need to talk," Sam tells Andy.

"You're probably right," she tells him chewing on her bottom lip.

"Andy, I want to…" Sam starts to speak, but is cut off by the clattering of dishes and Marlo and Traci entering the condo from the roof top.

"Sam, you have to taste this," she gushes.

It's in this moment that she realizes that it's by no slump that Marlo is at _her_ condo and eating _her_ food – he invited _her_! Andy's thoughts are all jumbled together in a dangerous mess. She takes one wary look at Sam's face, and then bolts from the room and onto the roof top.

"Was it something I said?" Marlo asks confused, as Traci follows in Andy's footsteps.

* * *

"Do you believe _this_?!" Andy whispers furiously when Traci catches up with her outside.

"Andy, just try and calm down, alright?" she tries to calm her best friend down.

"Calm down? He's been playing me hot and cold all week, and now he invites _that_ woman to _my_ condo? How can I be calm about _that_, Trace?"

"They're just _friends_, Andy," she repeats the sentiment once again.

"I wonder what's going on over there," Gail nods her head in Andy and Traci's direction standing next to Nick getting a beer.

"Dunno," Nick answers shrugging his shoulders. He has finally gotten Gail to talk to him again, and somehow he has a feeling that if he goes over all concerned about Andy, he'll halt whatever process he's been making with her. Despite how much he wants to protect Andy, he can't right now.

"How am I supposed to deal with the fact that when whenever I see him, he seems to be attached at the hip with her? How am I supposed to trust him?" There was that word again; _trust_ – something that was unbelievable hard for Andy to do, and as far as Sam is concerned, she had to begin trusting him again after he had broken her trust in him.

"Why don't you go back inside and ask him that?" Traci asks.

* * *

"I'm sorry if I made things worse for you tonight, Sam," Marlo tells him on the ride down in the elevator.

"It's not your fault, if anything, it's mine," he takes on the blame, as the elevator _pings_, announcing that they've arrived on the ground floor.

"Hang on for a second," Marlo grabs him by the arm for the second time that evening. "You're being entirely too hard on yourself, Sam," she tells him.

"I messed up, Marlo," he replies walking towards the spot where they parked their cars.

"Yeah, well, you're human, deal with it," Marlo scoffs causing Sam to smile slightly at the sentiment.

"You're a good friend, Marlo," he tells her when they arrive at her car.

"So, are you, Swarek," she replies.

* * *

"Hey, Dov, have you seen Sam?" Andy asks when she re-enters the living room to find it devoid of the man she's looking for.

"Yeah, he left a couple of minutes ago," Dov tells her his fingers fiddling with the label on the beer bottle he's holding in his right hand.

"What?" Andy asks fearing what he's about to tell her.

"Great party!" Chris exclaims giving Andy a peck on the cheek as he and Denise are about to leave. "We only have the sitter for another thirty minutes, so…" he adds. Chris being a dad is still an image Andy can't really fathom. But seeing him with Denise is the happiest Andy has seen him, well, since the academy really.

"It's nice to have met you, Andy," Denise holds out her hand as a gesture.

"Thanks, you too," she shakes Denise' hand. As they make their way to the front door, Chris turns around to her and Dov.

"You want a ride, man?"

"That'd be…" Dov starts, but as Andy grabs his arm and her short fingernails dig into the flesh, he pipes up a different answer, "nah, I'm good, man," he whimpers as he watches Chris and Denise leave.

"Spill!" Andy exclaims angrily, losing what little she has left of her self-control.

"He left with Cruz," Dov finally reveals causing Andy's entire body to become rigid.

* * *

"Just try and get along with her, alright?" Sam asks of Marlo, as he opens the door for her. "She's been through enough as it is," he tells her.

"Is that what you really want?" she asks him.

"It is, I don't want Andy to be hurt any more than she already has," Sam replies.

"Okay, I will," Marlo promises. When Sam arches an eyebrow at her answer she adds an, "I'll try."

"That will have to do," he nods his head.

* * *

Staring at Dov, she can't figure out what to do. Should she try and catch up with him? Stay here, and accept that it is over or fight for him?

She chooses the latter.

* * *

The laughter belonging to Sam and Marlo reach her ears, before she even makes it out the door of her apartment building. A green bush hides her from view, and gives her a perfect outlook of the parking lot. She can see them standing by Marlo's car, her leaning her back against it, as Sam stands opposite her, showing off his dimpled grin. The grin that used to be reserved for _her_ only.

"I needed that," Sam says getting a hold of his laughter.

"Me too, it's been a weird couple of weeks," Marlo agrees with him.

"That it has, you get home safe, alright?" he tells her, as Andy watches their every move very closely.

"I will," Marlo winks at him. "You too, and I'll see you in the morning?" she asks.

"Of course," he maintains as he watches her drive away.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he unlocks his truck before hoisting himself into it, turning on the ignition and driving in the opposite direction than Marlo – headed home.

So, once again Andy is left alone in a dark parking lot watching the man she loves driving away.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful reviews, follow - and favorite alerts. It means more to me than I can put into words.

This chapter brings some resolution to what Sam and Andy have been tip-toeing around in the first two chapters. Obviously I don't know what this epic truck scene in season four will be about, but this is my version of it ;o)

Re: Andy's tattoo, then again I don't know what it says, but I felt this version of it spoke volumes in regards to the chapter itself, but also what I believe in my heart of hearts is the reason behind her going on that taskforce.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Rookie Blue or the Mohammed Zahir poem.

* * *

**[III]**

* * *

**Cour-age (n). Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.**

* * *

A week has passed, and to say things have been awkward between them would be the understatement of the decade. When Andy isn't in bed, eating ice cream and watching chick flicks, she's bawling her eyes out, and when Sam isn't regretting all the things he left unsaid before Andy left for the taskforce, he's beating the punching bag senseless.

Whenever she can get away with it in parade, Andy steals a glance at Sam. She's thankful that not once has she caught him looking at Marlo. Traci swears up and down that they're just _friends_, and maybe she's right, but do they have to have such a close friendship?

Frank outlines what assignments are priorities today, and sends them off. But not before reminding everyone of the celebrations at the bar later tonight. He and Noelle make sense, they're good together, and baby Olivia is the cutest thing ever. She and Traci had been at the park a few days ago with Leo, and had run into Noelle and Olivia. Andy had been taken aback by the little person staring back at her, and the way she had clutched onto her hand when she'd offered it to her.

* * *

"_She's beautiful, Noelle," Andy gushed stroking Olivia's chubby hand, as Traci was pushing Leo on the nearby swing._

"_Thanks, McNally," her former T.O. had replied giving the baby a kiss on the head. "Is your clock ticking away?" Noelle asked arching an inquisitive eyebrow._

"_My clock?" Andy asked confused. _

"_The biological one," Noelle clarified. _

"_No sense for it to," Andy simply replied making Noelle frown. With the way things were right now with Sam it literally made no sense to even think about babies. But Andy knew – deep down- that if she ever were to become a parent, she wanted it to be with Sam._

"_You never know, McNally," Noelle offered up. She had herself been very close to giving up, but then Frank had come along, and later; Olivia. "You never know." She repeated placing Olivia in the baby carriage._

"_I guess not," Andy shrugged her shoulders, watching as Leo jumped off the swing, and began climbing the ladder to the slide._

* * *

"Hey, McNally?!" Sam calls out attempting to catch up with her. She comes to an abrupt halt at the sound of the apparent desperation in his tone of voice.

"What is it, Sam?" she sighs deeply, turning around slowly, as she says the words.

He looks amazing in his civvies; a dark blue button-up shirt, a pair of black jeans and that tell-tale smirk of his hovering on his lips. Not that she's surprised. Sam would look good - even in a brown paper bag.

"We need to _talk_," he states seemingly off-handedly watching, as their colleagues filter past them.

Andy knows instantly what this _talk_ will be about; Marlo. As if it isn't enough that she has to ride with her in an enclosed vehicle today, now they have to talk about her too.

'_God damn him!'_ Andy swears underneath her breath.

So, okay; Andy _did _leave him and everyone else behind when going on that taskforce, but her thinking had more or less been that if he truly loved her, he would wait for her.

Which he obviously hadn't - or had he?

Not if the night of her party had been any indication. She had walked right smack into it. They had been standing by Marlo's car when Andy had entered the parking lot. They had laughed and smiled at each other, and finally Sam had opened the car door for her, and watched as she had driven away. Then, and only then had he jumped into his truck and driven in the opposite direction leaving Andy alone in a dark corner of the parking lot.

_She_ had lost _him_ – probably for good this time around.

"McNally?" Sam snaps his fingers in front of her face attempting to get her attention. "You still with me?" he asks bending slightly in his knees, so they're at the same eye level. He has to do that at times to make sure he's got her attention.

"What do you want, Sam?" Andy asks him exasperatedly. That probably came out harsh, but what the hell does he expect? The look on his face tells her that _this_ reaction wasn't it.

"I…," he starts shrugging his shoulders with a smirk. "I don't know," Sam finally relents with a heavy sigh, which truthfully, really isn't an answer Andy can make anything of. It basically only makes her spiral more out of control, or more than she already is.

"You don't _know_?" she repeats with disbelieving eyes. The image of him and Marlo at her car runs on a continuous loop in Andy's mind - an image that she'd rather be eradicated from her memory.

"Andy…," he pinches the bridge of his nose before taking a step towards her, but is thwarted in his efforts when Peck and Nash appear from inside the parade room.

"McNally, let's stroll," Gail instructs, linking her arm with Andy's before walking away from where Sam and Traci are standing.

All he can do is watch, as Peck pulls a reluctant McNally along with her down the hall of the Division. What he's hanging onto? The fact, that while walking next to Peck, McNally looks back no less than three times.

_Progress_

"She'll come around, Sam," Traci tries to reassure him once McPeck are out of their sights.

"Really?" he asks with a small smile playing on his lips. "What makes you so sure, Nash?" Sam asks placing his hands on his hips awaiting her response.

"She misses you," Traci simply replies. "It's as plain as day," she finishes with a shrug.

"I don't know, Nash," Sam tells her. "I really screwed up."

"Well, no argument there," Traci scoffs, but remembering that she's talking to a Superior Officer, she adds a "Sir," for good measure before continuing. "But you weren't the only one," she tells him honestly – undoubtedly referring to Andy's vanishing act six months ago. "She still loves you, but a word of advice? Don't go around dangling your new best friend in front of her – it isn't fair – to either of them."

"Marlo?" Sam all but gasps. "She's just a friend," he tells Traci defensively.

"_You_ know that, but _she_ doesn't," at the look of pure confusion on Sam's features, she elaborates. "She saw the two of you in the parking lot the night of her party," Traci enlightens him.

"So, that's _why_?" Sam points a finger in the direction of where McPeck went.

"Yup!" Traci nods her head, tasting the 'p'. "Listen," she continues at the sight of Sam running his fingers through his hair exasperatedly. "Tonight is Frank and Noelle's engagement party – Andy's going. It might be the perfect occasion to get everything out in the open," Traci suggests, an idea having formed in her head.

"Nash, I don't know," he hedges feeling anything, but confident in his ability to get through to Andy. She has built up walls again, and Sam, honestly doesn't know if he can knock them down again.

"It would be good for you – both of you. Your problem is that you're not communicating; you didn't do it before she left, and you're not doing it now. _Talk_ to each other," she tells him backing away.

"And McNally will be there?" Sam asks making Traci roll her eyes at him.

"Of course she will. Wouldn't miss it for the world," she tells him. "Oh, and Swarek – don't bring a date this time around," she winks at him making him scoff.

Tonight it is then.

* * *

Several hours later, after having spent eight hours in an enclosed vehicle with Marlo, Andy is standing in front of her locker getting ready for the engagement party. Not that she's remotely feeling up for it, they hadn't even been in the squad for a good hour before Marlo had started in on her inadequacies. If it hadn't been about her lacking abilities on the street, she had made subtle hints about Sam, which really hadn't been all that subtle to begin with.

Dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, a blue top with waterfall musk and a pair of black ballerinas on her feet, Andy is checking out her appearance in the small mirror attached to her locker. Applying some lip gloss to her lips, she hears the door of the locker room slam shut, as Marlo comes barreling through, headed for her own locker.

Andy takes a tentative look at her before gathering the courage to ask her colleague a question. "Everything all right?" she asks eying the obviously tense Marlo Cruz a couple of lockers down.

"I'm fine, McNally!" she snaps before divesting herself of her clothes and hitting the shower.

"Oh-kay…" Andy rolls her eyes at Marlo's retreating form before getting back to making herself representable for tonight's party.

* * *

"What was _that_ about?" Traci asks after Marlo has torn out of their office. She didn't even acknowledge Traci when she entered the office, where she and Sam had obviously been in the middle of a heated discussion.

Sam sits heavily down on his desk chair before answering the question. "I told her, once more, that I'm not interested in her _that_ way," he indicates wildly with his hands before lifting his head to look into Traci's eyes.

"So, I'm guessing _that_ didn't go over so well?" Traci asks perching on the edge of his desk. Even from the beginning, Traci had had a clear feeling that Marlo had been more into Sam than vice-versa in their past relationship. And that had been before there had been an Andy in the picture.

"Could've gone better," Sam muses rubbing his face with his hands.

"Hey," Traci reaches out, grabbing Sam's wrist with her hand before continuing, "Sam, you did the right thing. In these kinds of circumstances, you can't let someone you care about go on thinking there's something there, when there clearly isn't."

"I'll be lucky if she speaks to me again," he sighs closing his eyes. Despite everything, then he doesn't want to lose Marlo as friend, but if it comes down to a choice between her and Andy, his answer is abundantly clear.

"I'm sure that's not true," Traci tries to placate him. "You're still going to _The Penny_, right?" she asks wanting to make sure he'll be there.

"Of course," he replies nodding his head. "Might as well go two-for-two," Sam sighs attempting to be funny, but failing miserably.

"Hang in there, Swarek," Traci winks at him, as she leaves the room.

* * *

"Wauw…look at you," Traci whistles entering the locker room.

"Thanks, Trace," Andy smiles at her friend gratefully, whilst attempting to get her hair to resemble some type of hair style.

It's been a while since she has dressed up for anything. Being undercover meant dressing down, wearing clothes that she normally wouldn't want to be caught dead in. But tonight is special, tonight is for Frank and Noelle.

"Hello!" Traci suddenly exclaims having caught sight of something on Andy's body. Her eyes are glued to the part of her back that isn't covered by her top or the black sports bra she's sporting since the back of the top is extremely low-cut. "What the hell is this?!" she asks trailing her fingers across Andy's ribs where a tattoo has now taken up permanent residence.

"Trace!" Andy squirms out of reach before looking behind her to make sure that they're alone. Marlo hasn't come out of the shower yet. "Will you keep it down?" she whispers furiously not wanting the entire Division to know about her tattoo.

"What does it say?" Traci asks interested.

"Trace, please…" Andy sighs trying to get her best friend to drop the subject.

"McNally, spill!" she insists perching her hands at her waist.

"Fine…" she relents with gritted teeth, turning around, so that the side of her body is to Traci's front. Andy lifts the elastic band of her sports bra slightly in order for Traci to be able to read the words.

_**When there is courage to know **_

_**We will grow our courage to know **_

_**When there is courage to fight **_

_**We will light up our courage and fight**_

"It's beautiful," Traci admits following the waves of the _'W's'_ in the tattoo. "Where is it from?" she asks, while Andy fixes her clothing turning around to face her.

"I read it, while in college. It's by Mohammed Zuhair, and I guess it just spoke to me. You know, with being on undercover detail and all." Andy shrugs grabbing her cell and putting it in her clutch purse.

"Just wait until Sam sees it," Traci whistles.

"Sees what?" Marlo asks exiting the shower, wrapped in a fluffy towel. "What's going on?" she asks eying the looks Andy and Traci are sending each other.

"Nothing," they squeak in unison before getting back to getting ready for the engagement party at _The Penny_, while Marlo looks on curiously.

* * *

It's a balmy night; Andy is making her way to the front entrance of _The Penny_, while Traci is parking her car when she runs right smack into Oliver.

"Whoa there, McNally," he grins at her catching her by the arms to avoid them smacking their heads together.

"Sorry, Oliver, I didn't see you there," Andy apologizes.

"You okay?" Oliver asks looking her up and down. His intuitive parental instincts kick into high gear, as usual when it comes to one of his former rookies.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Andy nods her head repeatedly.

"_Right_," Oliver drawls out the word with a clear indication that he ain't selling what she's buying. "Let me guess – this is about Sammy," he guesses correctly.

"Oliver…" Andy starts, but is cut off when he holds up a hand to silence her.

"Sweetheart," he rubs her arm before adding, "Sam isn't exactly an easy man to read. These past couple of months haven't been easy on any of us, but if I'm sure of one thing, then it's Sammy's feelings for _you_," Oliver vehemently says.

"How can you be so sure? I mean, Marlo…" Andy sighs shaking her head unable to finish her sentence.

"Andy, he never loved Marlo, couldn't even utter the words before he fell in love with you," Oliver notices the look on her face, and continues. "Yes, he told me. You're the first woman he's said those words to, McNally. That counts for something, I know it doesn't eradicate everything else, but it's a beginning."

"So, the psychic was right?" Andy wonders out loud.

"Yeah, well normally I wouldn't put too much stock into someone with those…abilities, but about that, he was right, yes," Oliver agrees.

"Hey, everything all right?" Traci asks joining the two outside the building.

"Yeah, just catching up," Oliver tells her as they walk in together.

* * *

"Everyone!" Frank raises his voice a good hour later to get the attention of everyone assembled at the bar. "Noelle and I," he smiles taking her hand in his before continuing, "would like to thank you all for being here tonight to celebrate our engagement. Neither of us thought we'd be standing here today, which only makes it that more special. So, without further ado, let's raise our glasses," Frank says as the sound of chairs being pulled out, people standing up and the raising of glasses can be heard in the room. "To us," he tells Noelle clinking glasses with her, as everyone else chimes in with a "to you."

"I love you," Frank tells Noelle gathering her in his safe embrace.

"I love you too," Noelle smiles up at him linking her arms around his neck.

"How's that beer treating you?" Oliver asks Andy regarding the beer she's been nursing for the past hour.

"Oh, just not that thirsty I guess," Andy replies searching the room for a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"He'll be here," he tells her quietly, as Trace re-joins them.

"Everything okay?" she asks sensing something is off with Andy.

"Yeah," Andy nods her head. "You know what? I'm just gonna head home," she finally tells them figuring she's not good company tonight.

"Why? The night's still young," Traci says, watching as Andy gets up from the table. "At least let me drive you home," she tells her.

"No need, I need the fresh air. I'll see you in the morning, thanks for the drink," she tells Oliver before hugging Traci and leaving.

"Where is he?" Oliver whispers furiously, checking his cell to see if there's a text from Sam.

"He said he'd be here," Traci says as a way of explanation.

* * *

Andy wraps her arms around her body, as she begins her walk home. She really should've brought a jacket to put over her shoulders. A car horn sounds nearby, and she hears the familiar hum of an engine stopping. She doesn't even have to turn her head to look; Andy knows instantly who it is.

"Leaving already?" Sam asks her through the window he's just rolled down. A sense of déjà vu comes over Andy; her walking on the street, him in his truck.

"Didn't feel like celebrating," Andy tells him continuing to walk.

"Let me give you a ride home, McNally," Sam follows her in the truck coming to an abrupt halt when she does.

"Why?" she asks turning around to face him.

"Why, what?" Sam asks frowning, resting one elbow against the steering wheel, while the other is perched against the head rest of the passenger seat.

"Sam," she starts walking closer to the truck. "You've barely spoken to me since I came back, why this overwhelming urge to be nice to me all of the sudden?" Andy asks rubbing her arms, the goose bumps rising on her bare arms.

"McNally," Sam grumbles. "Get in the truck," he implores her.

"I can walk," Andy insists despite the fact that she's cold, and it'll take her a good ten or fifteen minutes to walk home.

"Andy," Sam sighs momentarily closing his eyes. "I want to drive you home, all right? You're cold, probably had a little to drink, and if you don't get into the truck, I'll follow you home – your choice."

"Fine," she sighs through gritted teeth before climbing into the truck. Sam presses a button, which instantly shuts the passenger seat window. "Well?!" she grumbles when they haven't moved for a good five minutes.

"Well, what?" Sam asks shrugging his shoulders.

"This isn't getting me home, Sam," Andy tells him keeping her eyes trained forward, watching as couples walk past them, wrapped in each other's arms.

"Before we do _that_, we need to talk," he tells her. The rustling of his leather jacket tells her that he's turned around in his seat, so that he's facing her side. "McNally, please," he asks of her, feeling anything but confident about his abilities to get through to her.

"Marlo seemed out of sorts earlier," Andy says, still not looking at him.

Sam sighs deeply. Talking about Marlo isn't what he has in mind for _their_ talk. "I don't want to talk about her; I want to talk about _us_."

"You don't think your _friend_ has anything to do with us?" Andy asks adding just the right amount of disdain in the way she says the word; friend.

"McNally, will you just…" Sam says exasperatedly before Andy feels his calloused fingers touch her chin, and turn her head making her look him in the eyes. "Whatever Marlo and I had, ended a long time ago - she may have feelings for me still, but I don't for her, all right? She's been there for me when you…" he can't bring himself to finish his sentence, so Andy does it for him.

"…weren't…" she sighs deeply closing her eyes.

"Hey, open your eyes," Sam pleads with her. When she opens them, her eyeliner is smudged underneath her eyes. He slides a soft thumb along the skin making Andy's heart flutter. It's been a long time since he's been _this_ careful with her.

"I'm sorry," Andy squeaks, her throat sandpaper dry.

"So am I, we both screwed up, Andy," his warm hand caresses her cold cheek, as she leans into his touch.

"I know," Andy sighs nodding her head. In a moment of clarity, she looks straight into Sam eyes – almost as if she's seeing the very core of him. "You broke my heart."

"I know," Sam admits nodding his head, and tucking a stray of hair behind her left ear. He has always loved her hair. Loved the weight and feeling of it, loved playing with it after having been intimate, secretly he hopes that this isn't the last time he's touching _it_, touching _her_.

"You gonna give me a ride home?" Andy suddenly asks needing to break the sad yet, enlightening tone that's engulfing them, here in Sam's silver truck.

"Absolutely, McNally," he gives her a dazzling dimpled grin before turning the ignition on. "Absolutely," Sam pulls away from the curb and they're on their way.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Huge thanks for your continued support on this story. Seeing all the reviews and alerts really make me happy :o) This chapter was a struggle to write, but I am very satisfied with the outcome. While it is hopeful in terms of McSwarek, it also touches on what happened to Andy during the taskforce - at least in my version ;o)

Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think ...

* * *

**[****IV****]**

"Home, sweet home," Andy announces opening the door to her condo. Sam remains standing in the doorway, when she walks to the coffee table, throwing her key chain on it before turning around to look at him. "Aren't you coming in?" she asks frowning at his obvious discomfort.

"Sure," Sam nods his head shutting the door behind him.

"A beer?" Andy asks walking into the kitchen needing to occupy herself with a task.

"A beer would be good," Sam chimes in watching as she removes his jacket from her shoulders, before opening the fridge and pulling out two beers. He had offered it to her once they'd gotten out of the silver truck.

Handing an ice-cold beer to his outstretched hand, they both take a sip of the beverage before walking to the couch to sit down.

"How's the Detective shield working out for you?" Andy asks trying to ease the obvious tension that's been existing between them ever since her return from the taskforce.

"It's different, but good," he tells her. "Traci's a good partner," Sam starts, but noticing her casting her eyes downwards at the comment and biting her lower lip adds, "but nothing like my last one though," he smirks at her when she lifts her head.

"Yeah?" Andy asks arching an eyebrow with a careful smile hovering on her lips.

"Most definitely," he nods his head before taking a tentative sip of beer.

"Good to know," she muses playing with the label on her beer bottle, a clear sign that she's anxious. They're standing on a precipice, one wrong move and they'll stumble to the ground. They're both aware of that, but Andy is per usual overthinking things and jumping to the worst-case scenarios.

Sam is unsure on what to do, because the last time he attempted to sway her with humor following a serious conversation, she'd bolted.

* * *

"_Andy, what I said to you…"_

"_It's okay, heat of the moment, I get it."_

"_No, I meant it. It's true. There are two-hundred-and-six bones in the human body; I saw it on 'Grey's Anatomy'."_

"_I'm going home."_

"_C'mon, McNally!"_

* * *

"You still do _this_?" Sam asks eying the book on the coffee table, attempting to lighten the mood. "_**'Yoga for beginners'**_ – seriously?" he asks arching an eyebrow.

"Gotta keep in shape, Swarek," Andy giggles, as Sam picks up the book and begins to thumb through it. "What's up with the sudden interest in yoga? It sure didn't interest you before," she asks frowning.

"I seem to remember things differently, McNally," he reminds her lifting his eyes from the book to gaze into her eyes mischievously.

* * *

_It had been a few weeks after their reunion; Sam had spent the past couple of nights at Andy's, when he woke up to an empty bed. He rubbed his eyes, searching the bedroom for any signs of where she had disappeared off to. The alarm clock read 7:00 am on a holy Sunday, and they had the entire day off. _

'_**What the hell was she doing up?' **__Sam wondered, as he sat up on the edge of the bed, to put on the discarded boxers that laid at his feet. They had stumbled through the apartment last night, scattering their clothes around before collapsing on top of each other in bed._

_He found her in the living room, sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, facing a row of white, scented candles, while soft music played on her iPod. She was wearing a pair of yellow boy shorts, a white tank top and her hair was arranged in a messy bun on the top of her head. The palms of her hands were pressed together, her eyes were closed and she seemed to be in deep concentration._

_Sam stood in the doorway watching her; he scratched his bare chest before venturing further into the room. He couldn't contain the smirk appearing on his lips, as he walked silently towards her, licking his lips, as he carefully slid down to the floor behind her._

"_What are you doing?" Andy asked with her eyes still closed, a small smile hovering on her lips._

"_Yoga, it would seem," Sam quipped, now sitting right behind her, his legs on the outside of hers, butterflying her. _

"_A funny from you at __**this**__ hour, Swarek, that's a first," she giggled knowing that he was anything but a morning person._

"_And whose fault is __**that**__, McNally?" he asked pressing the palms of his hands against Andy's. _

_His chest hairs against her back, his warm breath against her neck, and the mere fact that he was so near was close to doing her in. "You're distracting me, Swarek," she whined attempting to keep her body balanced._

"_Sorry," Sam said, but Andy knew he was anything but sorry. His teeth nipped at her ear lobe making her breath hitch in his throat._

"_No, you're not," she shot back sighing in the back of her throat._

"_You're right, I'm not," Sam teased before tracing the shell of her ear with his tongue._

"_I don't think this is what the Hindu's had in mind when inventing yoga," Andy said playfully, as she felt him sliding his hands down her arms until they finally rested around her waist pressing her entire body backwards, feeling his growing erection against her backside._

"_Your point __**being**__, McNally?" he asked, as she turned around in his arms. Placing her hands, flat on his chest, she pushed at his chest with them making him lie down on his back._

"_Just sayin'," Andy grinned down at him before slanting her lips against his. Sam framed her face with his hands, as she coaxed him to open his mouth thrusting her tongue into his mouth when he allowed her entrance._

* * *

"Whatever you say, Swarek," Andy smiles weakly at him before getting off the couch, needing there to be some space between them after _that_ walk down memory lane.

"What is it?" he asks placing his beer bottle on the coffee table before standing up. "Andy?" Sam says her name in a questioning manner causing her to turn around to look at him.

"What are we even _doing_, Sam?" she asks exasperatedly.

"We're talking," he offers up with a smile. He knows what she's doing, they have a lot of baggage to work through, and she has undoubtedly brought some baggage home from the taskforce as well. "Listen," he starts inching closer to her. "I'm not deluding myself here, all right, Andy? I know it won't be a quick fix, but I want this, _us_ to work – do you?"

"Of course I do!" Andy tells him in a defensive tone of voice. "A lot has changed, _we_ have changed."

"Yes, _we_ have, but I think it's for the better. I'm not working the streets anymore, Andy."

"I know…" she tells him drawling out the sentence as if she's not entirely sure what he's getting at.

"What I'm getting at is that before, we were partners _on_ the street, and I let my personal feelings get in the way of the professional job we had to do…" he stops suddenly when the look in Andy's eyes tells him that she's on the verge of tears.

"Okay, you know what?!" she snaps pointing a finger at him. "If _this_ is your way of, once again, telling me that what happened to Jerry was my fault, then…" Andy starts to walk away from him, but he catches her arm keeping her in place.

"It's not!" Sam claims with finality in his voice. "That…I wasn't thinking when I…I didn't…," Sam stammers his way through an endless series of ways to apologize before finally saying, "it wasn't your fault that Jerry died."

"Then why did you…?" Andy asks flailing her hands around to emphasize the frustration she's feeling.

"Hey!" Sam wraps his arms around her waist pulling her against his strong body. She remains rigid, trying to familiarize herself to the feeling of his body against hers. She rests her head in the crook, where his neck meets his throat, as he slides one hand up to the nape of her neck, holding her steady, as he hears her breathing slowing down. "What happened to Jerry was a tragedy, an unspeakable tragedy. I handled it badly, beyond badly," he speaks softly against her ear, telling her what he has wanted to tell her for the longest time.

"Sam…," Andy feels the need for some distance, but can't ignore the fact that being in his arms again is everything she's longed for, for the past six months.

"Losing Jerry, losing you, it put all my shit in perspective. You have no idea how much it tore at me to leave you in that parking lot, but I thought I had no choice but to leave. To save you from all the darkness that surrounds me," Sam speaks straight from the heart making Andy gulp.

'_Jesus Chris'_, Andy thinks so herself closing her eyes. He's opening up to her, telling her all the things she spent months obsessing over when they were broken up, before she left for the taskforce.

Sam's fingers make contact with her chin, and he tilts it making her misty brown pools look into his. "I love you," he whispers pressing his forehead against hers closing his eyes.

"I love you too," Andy moves her hands up his arms feeling his biceps through the black tee shirt he's wearing. She has missed these arms, the way he'd lifted her up in his arms in the cover apartment, holding her at night, the few times he had slipped his fingers through her belt loops at work and yanked her against his hardened body. She loved Sam's arms; always had, always would.

"How about smoothies tomorrow morning before work?" he suddenly asks making Andy snort out loud. Not exactly what she had been expecting him to say next. She leans back, looking into his eyes with twinkling eyes.

"Smoothies?" Andy asks arching an eyebrow.

"What?" Sam asks shrugging his shoulders. "It's healthy, and a great supplement," he argues with a smirk.

"True," she nods her head bemused. "Sure, smoothies would be good."

"Then it's a date," he smiles at her before pressing his soft lips against her forehead.

On the short walk to the front door, they hold hands. His grip on her hand is tight, as if he doesn't want to let her go. The thought brings a smile to Andy's lips.

"What is it?" he asks having picked up his leather jacket on the way to the door, getting into it before opening the door.

"Nothing," she shrugs her shoulders.

Taking it slow is the way to go. They had just jumped into things last time, and the end result had been disastrous. They smile awkwardly at each other, as they're supposed to say goodnight at the door.

"I'll pick you up in the morning before shift," Sam tells her kissing her on the cheek. When he's about to pull back, she reaches her hands out, grabbing his face and pressing their mouths together. Andy curls her arms around his neck, bringing him in close as Sam wraps his arms around her waist molding their bodies together.

Their bodies react to each other in the darkened doorway as if it's the first time they've kissed, but in a way it is. When they come up for air, Sam presses his forehead against hers trying to catch his breath, and Andy attempts to do the same.

"Tomorrow?" Andy asks breathing heavily closing her eyes.

"Tomorrow," Sam says nodding his head.

* * *

An hour after Sam has left; Andy is wearing her flannel pajama pants and a black singlet, standing in her kitchen contemplating what to do next. Sleep has been a serious problem ever since coming back from the taskforce. She can lie down on the bed; no problem, but actually closing her eyes and relaxing is another story.

She hasn't been eating right either, and she's drinking coffee and energy drinks respectively to show off her _'I'm fine'_ façade to the rest of the world. Gail had commented the bags underneath her eyes, the other day in parade, whispering, _'you'll never land Swarek, if you don't fix your baggies. Meet me after shift in the locker room.'_ Gail's quick fix had been the remainder of a bottle of sleeping pills, she had been prescribed after having been kidnapped, and she'd had trouble sleeping. Andy isn't much for taking pills, but at this point she's dead tired, and if a small white pill can help her rest, she'll take all the help she can get.

Andy had spoken to the department's shrink per protocol, but what she had planned on saying, had been far from had actually been said. Andy had started off with a lot of _'I'm fine's'_ as well as profusely telling the therapist in her typical McNally manner that all that mattered to her was getting back on the job. Only problem had been that the therapist hadn't bought her act at all.

* * *

"_So, Andy, what brings you here?" Dr. Shute asked crossing her perfectly shaped legs, resting a writing pad in her lap, while holding a pen between two perfectly manicured fingers._

"_You tell me," Andy shrugged non-committedly. _

_Doctor Shute was used to the brush off. She had a long record of helping police officers – and to say ninety percent of them had been reluctant to open up to her, would be putting it mildly. Elizabeth Shute had the nagging feeling that Andy McNally would belong in those ninety percent._

"_You must know why you're here," the therapist said shifting in her seat._

"_I've been on a taskforce, I did my job and I came back when it was done, end of story," Andy said with an unwavering gaze._

_"What happened on the taskforce?" Dr. Shute asked attempting to prod at her._

"_That's classified information!" Andy exclaimed startling the therapist. "I'm sorry," she apologized holding up a hand. "It just isn't a time of my life I'm proud of."_

"_Why is that, you think?" Elizabeth Shute had asked leaning forward in her chair. _

_Andy took a deep breath, figuring she might as well tell her why. "A lot happened right before Luke told me to make the decision whether or not to go."_

"_This would be Luke Callaghan, your ex-fiancé?" the therapist asked double- checking her notes. _

"_Yes," Andy affirmed with a nod of the head. "Anyway, when I left, I left to prove something, not only to myself, but to everyone else too." _

"_Why did you think you had something to prove?" the doctor tapped into the very Achilles heel that had been bothering Andy for the past six months._

"_I've made a lot of mistakes, and this was my chance to prove I wasn't __**that**__ girl anymore," Andy replied. _

"_What girl?" Elizabeth Shute asked with a finely plucked eyebrow arched. _

"_**That**__ girl; the one, who ruined an undercover operation on her first day on the job, who almost got her…" she stopped suddenly at the mention of Sam, and what he indeed was to her. "…T.O. killed when he was in deep cover, and I just…I don't want to go down the same path as my mom did. To give up who I am for a guy, a guy that may not always be there."_

"_Is that how you see Sam?" she asked noticing how Andy's entire body tensed up by the mere mention of the name. "That is who __**the guy**__ you're referring to is, right?"_

"_This doesn't have anything to do with Sam!" Andy exclaimed defensively, but the good doctor knew that she had hit the nail on its head._

"_I beg to differ," she replied._

"_I __**need**__ to work," Andy all but pleaded. Knowing that her future fate was lying in this woman's hands was anything but ideal. She couldn't face staying home for the foreseeable future, while this therapist or whatever tried to dig into the recesses of her mind._

"_I know you do," Elizabeth Shute said scribbling down on the pad in her lap. "Which is why I'm letting you return to work." _

"_You are?" Andy asked frowning. _

"_Yes," the therapist agreed. "But, on one condition," she added._

"_Figures," Andy scoffed rolling her eyes heavenly. "What is it?"_

"_You keep coming in for weekly consultations. I believe it would be a mistake to keep you from doing your job, but I see some underlining issues that need to be dealt with. So, if you do your part in our consultations, I'll keep you on the job."_

_Andy didn't know what to do with __**this**__. She wanted to get back to her job and her friends; yes, but having this woman delve into her mind wasn't something she was looking forward to. But figuring it was better than nothing, she nodded her head in agreement sharing a weak smile with Dr. Shute._

* * *

She had per protocol taken a few days off before getting her feet wet again at 15 Division. Even then, Frank had put her on desk duty, the first couple of days. She had tried not to take it personally with Nick going on patrol his first day back, but it was difficult not to.

Her cell suddenly rings pulling her from her dire thoughts. Picking up the phone, Traci's beaming face is smiling back at her on the screen, and Andy can't contain the smile on her own face by the prospect of talking to her best friend.

"Spill!" is the first word coming from the other line, as Andy jumps onto the kitchen counter, dangling her long legs from her high perch.

"Top of the evening to you too, Trace," she quips holding the cell between her ear and shoulder, while reaching out for an energy drink sitting on the counter.

"Don't give me that, McNally!" Traci admonishes her. "He drove you home, right?" she quizzes her. Traci has from the get-go been pro-Swarek, even when Andy had been _engaged_ to Luke; Traci had been anything but supportive.

"Yes, he did…" Andy sighs jumping off the counter and walking to the couch to sit cross-legged on it.

"Come on, McNally!" Traci exclaims exasperatedly. "Details," she adds needing something to tie her over with, since her romantic life or the lack thereof is pretty much non-existing these days. Life after Jerry has been anything but easy, but she and Leo are slowly making their way back to sanity. It helps having her best friend back home where she belongs.

"All right," Andy concedes. "He walked me up, we talked, _really_ talked, and he said good night."

"That's it?!" Traci squeaks.

"Pretty much," Andy shrugs. "We're having smoothies at the park tomorrow morning before shift. So, I guess it's a start."

"He's been miserable without you, Andy," she tells her. "Just give him a shot, okay? That's all I'm saying."

"I am, Trace. Smoothies, remember?" Andy tells her combing the tangles in her hair out with her fingers.

"All right, McNally, sleep tight," Traci tells her, bidding her goodnight.

"Night, Trace."

* * *

After having downed a sleeping pill with a glass of Pinot Noir, Andy is _finally_ lying flat on her back in bed, sleeping. But it isn't a relaxing slumber, it's filled with memories. Dark memories from the last hour of her and Nick's undercover detail had as usual made its way into her subconscious.

* * *

_Their taskforce hadn't had a fairytale ending. Andy had returned to the warehouse from 15 Division around closing time with the disguise of a rookie having forgotten to Mirandize her. One of the girls in the warehouse had told her, that __**'the boss'**__ needed to talk to her, but she had felt something in her gut, something that told her that whatever was waiting for her behind the office door was anything but good._

_Opening the door, she had come face to face with a bludgeoned Nick, tied to a chair, while __**'the boss'**__ stood in front of him, his cold eyes fixed on Andy's shocked face. _

"_It'll be your turn in a minute, __**Sweetheart**__," he spat at her, while one of his goons had come up from behind grabbing her before towing her to a chair next to Nick and tying her up as well. "We'll give you two a minute to say goodbye," he sneered at them before he and his number one left the office._

"_What happened?" Andy whispered softly at Nick, who was beginning to come around after having been used as a punching bag for the past hour._

"_Dunno, but they know," he got out in between struggled breaths of air._

"_Know what?" Andy asked fearfully._

"_Who we are," Nick coughed spitting out a chunk of blood, "they know we're undercover cops."_

"_How?" she whispered furiously, but it was too late. The two men re-entered the room, and the one, who had tied Andy up walked right back to her. _

"_I wanna have some fun with this one first," he laughed bitterly touching her chin with his calloused fingers. Andy threw her head back by the very feeling of his hands on her._

"_Have fun," the boss sneered throwing another punch to Nick's already bloodied face._

"_What do you say, gorgeous? Ready to feel what a real man feels like?" he winked at her untying her bonds before grabbing her by the arms, and yanking her in close._

"_Leave her alone!" Nick growled, as Andy was towed towards the door._

"_You have anything to say, wonder boy?" the boss asked holding a switchblade to Nick's jugular, as Andy felt her captor fondling her breasts. She felt his growing erection against her backside sharing one final, despondent stare with Nick as two precise shots rang through the air hitting their captors square on the forehead. Everything went still, as their two bodies hit the floor and Andy and Nick knew they were saved by their own._

* * *

Andy wakes up with a start, drenched in sweat, her heart beating rapidly.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Thank you so very much for all the wonderful replies and alerts :o)

This chapter set's up what's gonna happen in the chapters to come, things aren't all rosey yet, but you'll get a little taste of it in this one ;o)

Hope you enjoy, and please let the reviews / alerts keep on coming.

* * *

**[V] **

The sun is shining the next day when Sam and Andy meet up at the park to spend some time together before their shift starts.

"How is it?" Sam asks, as they're walking through the park, sipping on a couple of strawberry and banana smoothies.

"Good," Andy nods her head solemnly, as they walk past a group of children playing tag on the playground.

Sam doesn't know what to make of the silent treatment he's been getting from McNally this morning. She seems to be out of sorts; with the way she constantly averts her eyes from his, tucks her hair behind her ears, and with the way she twirls the straw around in the liquid trying to keep her hands busy.

To say, that she is frazzled would be putting it mildly. Her disturbing dream from last night still haunts her - even in the daylight.

"How did it go with the doc?" Sam asks making Andy stop dead in her tracks. When he turns around to look at her, her mouth is agape.

"How do _you_ know about Dr. Shute?" Andy asks accusingly with narrow eyes.

"I don't," Sam says immediately making her raise her eyebrow in disbelief. "Well, I do. I know she's the department's shrink and that when returning from an UC or taskforce its protocol to go see her."

"Did you?" she asks when they begin to walk again.

"Yeah…," he hedges nodding his head when they take a seat on a nearby bench overlooking the park.

"Brennan?" Andy asks knowing instantly that she's hit her mark with the darkness showing up in Sam's eyes.

"Yup," he acknowledges popping the 'p'. "I had a couple of sessions with her, before I was cleared for duty."

* * *

_The clinically, white office plastered with diplomas from several degrees only added to his reluctance in stepping foot in this place. Sam was anything but thrilled to be sitting across from this woman; she represented everything Sam had spent his entire lift holding resentment towards._

_**Psychology**_

_Even after Sarah's attack, they hadn't talked about what had happened. All Sam had known was that his big sister had been hurt, and in the coming years, he had come to realize that it was a hurt, she'd never recover from._

"_What brings you here, Sam?" Dr. Shute had asked. _

"_You're the one with all the memorabilia, doc, so you tell me," Sam quipped, his irritation with the good doctor obvious._

"_The memorabilia?" the doctor asked arching an eyebrow, while eying the man sitting in front of her. He was the typical alpha male with a gigantic ego on his shoulders. But she suspected that once you got underneath all that masculinity, you'd find vulnerability unlike any other._

"_All the fancy stuff splayed all over your beige walls," Sam scoffed in way of an explanation._

"_Sam," Dr. Shute placed her elbows on her desk looking him straight in the eye. "I get the vibe here, that you're a straight forward kind of a guy, so I'll be frank with you. As long as your Staff Sergeant is keeping you __**off**__ the streets, you have an obligation to show up __**here**__, and I'll expect you to show me the same courtesy, that I'm showing you."_

"_Right," he nodded his head in agreement, realizing he'd overstepped some mark with the good doctor. "I apologize."_

"_Very well," she replied before sitting back in her desk chair again. "Conduct unbecoming, what's that all about?" _

_Images immediately began to swim before his eyes; Andy at __**'The Alpine Inn' **__asking him if he wasn't too busy the next couple of hours, their afterglow in the cover apartment after having made love for the first time, seeing her again after having been tortured by Brennan and finally catching up with her outside 15 Division in his truck asking her if she wanted to try and be normal together._

"_I'm here because Best thinks I need to be fixed," Sam hedged the original question with a convincing stare in place._

"_You don't agree?" Dr. Shute asked raising a skeptical eyebrow at him. She had seen the x-rays and had read the medical records – his body had been marred by Jamie Brennan, not something he was likely to get past on his own. The physical scars would heal of course, but the psychological ones went a lot deeper._

"_What I need..!" Sam exhaled roughly, all but jumping out of his chair, running his hands through his hair. "No, what I want is to do my God damn job, and forget about everything else!" he exclaimed._

"_Does that include Officer McNally?" she asked._

_Sam raised his eyes to hers at the mention of Andy's name. It hadn't even been a week since he'd gotten the message that she was leaving town._

"_**This,**__" Sam swung his hand between him and Dr. Shute before continuing, "isn't about Andy."_

"_Then what __**is**__ it about?" she asked._

_Sam rubbed his stubble face before realizing that for the first time in his adult life he had no idea what it was about._

"_I don't know."_

* * *

"You never told me that," Andy replies looking at him stunned.

"Never came up," he says shrugging his shoulders. "You left, Andy," he adds and immediately regrets his words when he sees the obvious hurt displayed on her features.

"I know," she sighs averting her eyes from his.

"Hey," Sam reaches out, placing his hand on her denim clad knee. "All I'm saying is that it helps; talking about it. And if you can't do it with Nash or me, then do it with Dr. Shute," he implores her.

"Okay," Andy replies nodding her head causing her bangs to fall in front of her eyes.

Sam moves his hand from her knee, and to her bangs tucking them behind her right ear, watching the strands fall back down in front of her eyes. Sam quirks a smile before leaning in, Andy begins to meet him halfway, but their moment is suddenly ruined by the shrilling sound of her cell ringing.

Sam groans closing his eyes, while she searches her pocket for the device. Noticing who it is, Andy flips the cell open, asking, "what's up, Trace?"

"Do you want to be voted the best honorary Aunt this year?" Traci asks.

"I'll repeat: what's up, Trace?" she tells her friend feeling very lost.

"Leo wants to go to the swimming pool this Saturday," she informs her making Andy frown.

"What does that…," she starts, but is cut off by Traci.

"Leo didn't want to celebrate his birthday last November, y'know with Jerry being gone, and you off on the taskforce." The sentiment breaks Andy's heart. She hadn't just left Sam and Traci behind, but Leo too. That little boy has lost so much in the short amount of time he has lived. "He's pulled the brown puppy dog eyes on me, Andy, and pleaded with me to ask you to go too."

"Swimming?" Andy squeaks in a high-pitched voice alerting Sam to the fact that something is indeed going on.

"It would mean the world to him, everyone's going," Traci replies.

"Everyone?" Andy asks incredulously, a certain female T.O. coming to mind.

"None of the T.O.'s, mind you, but all our friends. I can't get in touch with Sam though," Traci sighs. "Leo is really set on him coming too."

"Actually," Andy starts biting her lip, while simultaneously looking sideways at Sam. "He's here with me now."

"He is?" Traci asks dubiously.

"Yes."

"Can you ask him to go? It would mean the world to Leo," Traci tells her.

"I'll ask him, but…," Andy is cut off by Traci for the second time today when her friend interrupts her again.

"…no buts, McNally, don't forget to bring a two-piece," she hollers at her before hanging up.

"What's up?" Sam asks when Andy is staring ahead, holding her cell in the palm of her hand.

"_That_ was Traci," she tells him.

"I'll repeat: what's up?" he smirks at Andy mimicking her earlier words to Traci.

"You own a pair of trunks, Swarek?" she asks smiling at a grinning Sam.

* * *

"You ready, Dude?" Andy asks Leo the following Saturday. They are sitting on one of the many waterslides; Leo in-between her legs – his back to her front.

"Uh-huh," he nods his head eagerly. The hollering of Traci and the rest of their friends reach their ears – urging them on.

"Let's do it!" Andy exclaims as they both push away from the slide and are catapulted down by the running water. Leo cannot contain his elation on the way down, and when they appear in the pool spluttering, he begs her for another ride.

"Please, Andy, let's go again!" he exclaims laughing.

According to his mother, Leo hasn't laughed this freely for months – as a matter of fact ever since Jerry died. So, this is indeed a cathartic moment for him, not to mention his mother.

The moment is however halted when none other than Detective Sam Swarek strolls in wearing a pair of black trunks.

Andy is frozen in place, while Leo bounces out of the pool upon seeing his Uncle Sammy, a nickname he dubbed Sam in the beginning of the year. He catches him under the arms in mid-bounce, as the boy wraps his legs around Sam's waist.

When Andy climbs the ladder revealing her brown bikini to Sam's dark and stormy eyes – he's lost. He watches, as her bronzed body is standing on the tiles – a mere couple of meters from where he's standing with Leo. She gathers her wet tresses in a make-shift pony tail letting it trail down the left side of her face and shoulder. As she walks to a sun lounger, he catches sight of her tattoo on the side of her body and is taken aback by the sight.

'_Where did __**that**__ come from?' _Sam ponders, as he watches her grab a towel off of the sun lounger to wrap it around her damp body.

"Come on, honey," Traci tells Leo, as Sam slides him down his body – his eyes never leaving Andy's form, that's now covered by a knotted towel at her sternum.

"Okay," he solemnly agrees taking Traci's extended hand.

Andy is sitting on the sun lounger opposite Dov, seemingly in deep conversation when Sam stops next to them clearing his throat.

"Swarek!" Dov immediately jumps to his feet making Andy roll her eyes. Even now – four years in – Dov is _still_ treating Sam like the second coming.

"Epstein," Sam nods his head at the ever-enthused Dov before insinuating that he should hit the bricks with a throw of his head in the opposite direction.

"Smooth, Swarek," Andy grumbles standing up once Dov has leapt in Traci and Leo's immediate direction, who are talking idly with Denise, Chris and Christian at the kiddy pool.

"Whatever it takes, McNally," he shrugs crossing his arms across his rippled chest.

Having been apart for more than six months has done nothing to the way her body _still_ reacts to him. It's infuriating, really.

"What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?!" Andy snaps at him angrily with dark eyes.

Taken aback by her outburst, Sam takes a tentative step backwards at the sound of her words. "Andy, we need to talk," Sam repeats his words from earlier in the week.

"No, we don't!" she snaps at him. Talking about Marlo isn't really something she wants to do today – not on a day they're supposed to celebrate Leo's birthday on at least. "I don't want to hear about you two," she informs him trying in vain to walk past him. But Sam gently grabs both of her arms stilting her progress.

"I need you to hear me, McNally – really hear me," he pleads with her looking her straight in the eyes.

"Sam…," she breathes closing her eyes. In defeat, maybe? Because she knows that the second she looks into those brown pools, it won't be long before she surrenders.

"Marlo's just a friend, McNally. We met in the academy, but it never went beyond that," Sam tells her for the umpteenth time.

Something lights up within her at his words, a ray of hope perhaps? But can they really embark on another start together? Is that even what _he_ wants? Is that what _she_ wants?

"Then what about the other day?" she asks. "In your office?" Andy clarifies when the look in Sam's eyes tells her that he's confused. She had walked past his office in the afternoon, having finally decided to give _them_ a chance. Only she had seen Marlo enveloped in his arms, in such a way that Andy had actually felt a twinge of jealousy, because he had never held _her_ like _that_.

"My office…?" Sam asks confused before finally the shoe drops, and he realizes what she'd walked in on. "Andy, there is nothing going on between Marlo and me," he takes a careful step forward – awaiting her reaction – whether she'll run or stay this time.

"It sure didn't look like nothing to me," she tells him, remembering full-well the hurt she had felt upon seeing them together. Sam's hand making circular motions on Marlo's back, it had literally felt like the rug having been pulled out from under her.

"It _was_ nothing," Sam tells her with a finality that makes her realize that he's telling her the truth.

"So, what was it about?" Andy asks.

Sam sighs at the realization that he can't give her what she wants. He has made a promise to Marlo, and he can't break it – not even for Andy. "That's not for me to tell."

"Fine," Andy grumbles. She knows what it means to keep a confidence with a friend, but to actually have Sam keep something from her, involving Marlo, still stings.

"Hey," he whispers, tucking a wet lock behind her ear. She closes her eyes at the endearment when his touch sends an electric current through her body. Andy feels his warm hands frame her face, and her stomach does cartwheels on her. Sam's chest hairs tickle her skin, as he brings her body flush against his. His lips are velvety soft against her forehead, as her arms encircle his waist, interlocking behind his back.

"We're okay?" he murmurs against the side of her face.

Andy merely nods her head, sighing deeply in the back of her throat, "yeah, we're good," she smiles tentatively.

It may be an awkward start, but it's a start nonetheless. Sam tucks her head underneath his chin, as they walk - wrapped in each other – to join their friends.

* * *

"Bomb's away!" Leo squeals jumping into the water from the pool's ledge right into Sam's open arms.

"He's great with Leo," Traci enthuses sitting next to Andy on a sun lounger watching him tossing Leo into the water, and the boy instantly coming back for more.

"You're to blame for this, y'know?" Andy smirks at her friend. Traci merely shakes her head in a mock gesture.

"You're welcome," she retorts with a wink, as they look to the water where Leo is yelling

"Come on, Auntie Andy!" swimming to the ledge of the pool, holding onto it with his hands, as Sam stands in the middle of the swimming pool expectantly with a smirk hovering on his lips.

"Go on, _Auntie_ Andy," Traci teases, nudging her friend forward with slight pressure to Andy's back using the palm of her hand. Standing up, she sheds the towel covering her body, leaving it behind on the sun lounger before walking to the ledge of the pool smiling down at first Leo and then Sam.

'_What a difference a couple of days can make'_, Andy thinks to herself before raising her arms above her head, and jumping – head first – into the pool with a huge splash – much to Sam and Leo's delight.

Sam's face is contorted into a huge grin when she emerges from the water, sliding her fingers through her hair so it doesn't cover her eyes. "Nice one, Officer McNally," he grins at her rubbing his eyes from the wave of water that had hit him straight in the face when she'd jumped off of the ledge of the pool.

"Thank you, Detective Swarek," she giggles.

'_Oh, that sound'_, Sam thinks to himself. It's been far too long since he's last heard her laugh.

Andy takes a couple of breaststrokes before ending up no more than a couple of inches from his strong, muscular body. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, as his arms encircle her small waist. Leo swims towards them, and they open up a space for him in their embrace.

"Good birthday, Dude?" Andy asks her honorary nephew.

"The best!" he exclaims swimming away from them.

Sam and Andy look at each other – inaudibly agreeing with the birthday boy.

* * *

"You and Sam seemed very chummy," Traci remarks with a telltale grin in place, while zipping up her duffel bag.

Andy is frozen to the spot by her comment. Are they rushing things? Is it too soon? She finally shrugs her shoulders before placing her boot clad foot on the bench, tying up the laces.

"Any who…," Traci whistles trying desperately to lighten the tension that's suddenly enveloped the room. "Leo has had an awesome day, so thanks."

"You're welcome, Trace," Andy says, smiling at her. "It was good to see him so happy," she adds zipping up her duffel.

"Hang on," Traci reaches out for Andy when she begins to head out.

"What is it?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Traci asks earning an arched eyebrow in return. "You've seemed out of sorts ever since you came back, and I don't just mean the stuff with you and Sam."

"Then what _do_ you mean?" Andy asks huffing out an exasperated sigh, hitching her duffel higher on her shoulder.

"Andy, come _on_, this is me," Traci implores her to open up to her. She knows that she's hiding something from her, she's tried to grill Nick about it, but he's silent as the grave.

"Nothing is going on, Trace."

"That's bull!" she exclaims startling Andy to such a degree that she actually flinches. "You're not the person you were six months ago."

"Of course I'm not the same person, Traci!" Andy exclaims. "None of us are! But knowing it and talking about it are two very different things."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Traci retorts.

"Are _you_ the same person you were nine months ago, Trace?" she shoots back, and immediately regrets it with the excruciatingly sorrowful look she sees on her best friend's face. "I'm sorry, Traci," Andy reaches out to touch her, but she takes a step back, out of Andy's reach. "Great," she exhales loudly letting her duffel bag fall to the floor before sitting down on a nearby bench cradling her head in her hands.

Andy didn't mean to snap at Traci, little own to bring up Jerry's tragic death, but when a McNally's pushed, they push right back.

"What is it?" Traci's soft voice asks walking to the bench to sit down next to her. "What is _it_ that you're trying so desperately to hide from everyone?"

"Okay," Andy takes a deep breath before sitting up straight. "The taskforce wasn't a cakewalk; in fact, it showed me sides of myself that I didn't even know existed."

"What does _that_ mean?" Traci asks confused, while Andy turns her body sideways, looking at her.

"I'm not ready yet, Trace. I'm sorry," she apologizes upon seeing the disappointed look on her best friend's face. "It's just too much right now."

"But you _are_ dealing with it?" Traci asks placing a hand on Andy's denim clad knee.

"Well, I'm not seeing the department's psychologist for kicks," she smiles.

"Dr. Shute?" Traci asks surprised.

"You know her?" Andy asks right back.

"Yeah," Traci nods her head slowly. "I had a couple of sessions after Jerry," she admits.

"_God_, I'm so sorry, Trace," Andy vehemently apologizes.

"I know," Traci smiles a hesitant smile, "we both got caught up in the moment."

"Yeah," Andy concedes.

"Just promise me one thing," Traci says when they stand up, picking up their duffel bags again.

"Anything," she promises.

"When you _do_ need to talk about it with someone, _you_ call _me_," she pleads. "Keeping it bottled up will only make it that much worse." Traci advices her before pulling her into a warm hug.

"I know," Andy admits regretfully, as the memory of standing in the darkened parking lot behind _'The Penny'_ stands out to her. A time when she'd wished she for once had given someone their time and space.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Here's the sixth installment of "Home" ... I hope the described case makes sense and if not - just use your imagination since it set's up the entire chapter. I would love some more feedback as its food to my muse ;o)

Enjoy!

* * *

**VI**

"You're taking _her_ side?!" Andy yells exasperatedly, slamming down a file on Sam's desk - ten hours into an eight hour shift.

"Andy, come on," Sam sighs, trying to make her see reason. It's not that he's choosing sides; he's evaluating the evidence before him, which is his job. "Don't make this personal," he adds, which turns out to be the exact wrong thing to say, because next thing he knows, McNally's throwing him some serious daggers with her eyes.

"Don't make this _personal_?" Andy parrots his statement with incredulous eyes. "_She_…_,_" she flails her arms around fuming unable to put a sentence together. "She basically called me unprofessional and inept at my job because I gave that girl the benefit of the doubt," Andy finally finishes.

"According to Marlo, the evidence at the scene proved that the girl had motive and means," Sam walks around his desk to get in McNally's personal space figuring it's the best course of action.

"She made _that_ observation after taking one look around the house and giving the girl an once-over, Sam, hardly a thorough investigation."

"She's _still_ your Superior Officer, Andy, and you _have_ to listen to her, and _do_ what she says," he says. "Look," Sam rubs his face attempting to find the right words to get through to her with. "I know things are tense between you two, and I'm not saying it's right, but there are protocols that have to be followed."

"Protocols?!" Andy retorts sarcastically. The fact that he; Sam Swarek is giving her a pep-talk about _'protocol'_ is beyond ludicrous. With him being the original rule-breaker of 15 Division.

"Yes," he says through gritted teeth having grown tired of the back and forth between her and Marlo. "You may not agree with what she's saying, but you do have to respect her." Sam crosses his arms across his throat before adding, "and me as well."

"What that supposed to mean? You think I don't respect you now that you're a Detective?" Andy asks stunned.

"Of course not, but things have changed in the months you've been gone, Andy. Things that might've worked six or seven months ago, don't work anymore. I'm a Detective now, and I have a new set of rules to play by." Sam absolutely hates having to spell it out like this, but he doesn't see any other way.

"Fine!" Andy snaps turning on her heel, slamming the door shut on her way out making Sam hit the nearby wall in frustration.

He rubs his tiresome face, as he watches Andy move through the open desk space before disappearing around a corner, undoubtedly heading for the locker room.

* * *

_When they'd been partnered up that morning, Sam had instantly known that by the end of the day, they'd be at each other's throats. They were each other's polar opposites. Where McNally was emphatic and a sound believer in the goodness of people, Cruz was a seasoned police officer, who'd seen it all and learned by her mistakes. _

_They had been called out to a terrible scene; a neighbor had called in a domestic disturbance after having heard loud noises from a house belonging to a widower and his daughter. Marlo and Andy had been the first officers on the scene, and had found the victim; the father lying in a pool of blood, while his daughter; a fifteen year old girl had been hovering in the corner of the kitchen, covered in blood._

_Marlo had, after making sure the father was indeed dead called it into dispatch asking for CSU, Detectives and the coroner. Andy had instead turned her attention to the quivering girl, who had since they'd stepped into the house been in a somewhat catatonic state. _

_Cases involving children were always tricky to deal with despite how old the child was. But when you added in an alcoholic father raising his daughter alone after his wife had left them, you'd have a volatile tension between the two women, who were supposed to be working together. _

_Andy's belief in the girl had been fueled by her own past having grown up with her alcoholic father after her mother had left them both behind. She knew what it meant when you felt like you had the weight of the world resting squarely on your shoulders. You had to keep up appearances with your friends and relatives, when all you really needed was for someone to care, step in or just to offer a shoulder to cry on._

_She had connected with Tania, and right when the girl had been about to open her mouth, Cruz had stepped in and shot it all to hell with a brusque __**'we're taking her in'**__._

_Tania had completely shut down by the time they had arrived back at the barn. The tension between Andy and Marlo had been beyond obvious standing in the viewing room as Sam and Traci had tag teamed attempting to get the girl to tell them what had happened between her and her father._

"_You do realize this is on you, don't you?" Andy asked her arms crossed defiantly in front of her chest._

"_Excuse me?" Marlo asked turning sideways to glare at McNally._

"_You scared __**her**__!" Andy snapped pointing her finger at the girl in the next room, who had been avoiding eye contact with the two detectives attempting to get through to her._

"_I __**am**__ your Superior Officer, McNally!" Marlo barked right back at her before adding, "You may not agree with my orders, but you __**will **__follow them." _

_Andy had the urge to just walk away, to leave the case behind and just focus on the next one, but she couldn't. She knew she could help that girl in there, and she wasn't about to let Cruz stand in the way of that._

_She bit her lip before responding, "I understand." _

"_Good." Marlo nodded her head just as Sam and Traci joined them in the viewing room._

"_Everything all right?" Sam asked immediately sensing the tension between the two women. _

"_Fine," Andy nodded. "What's next?" she asked watching as the child advocate also tried to talk to Tania without any result it seemed._

"_We keep trying," Traci answered looking in the same direction as Andy. "But it seems like a losing battle, she's completely closed off."_

"_Let me try," Andy said, as Sam, Traci and Marlo shared a look. "I had a connection with her at the house," she added._

"_McNally, it's a losing battle, let it go," Cruz snorted obviously having made her mind up regarding Tania a while ago. _

"_It can't hurt to try," Traci figured shrugging her shoulders looking at Sam for confirmation._

"_All right," Sam exhaled deeply. "Don't push her too much though, Andy. She's fragile," he warned her. _

"_I know," she nodded her head before exiting the viewing room._

* * *

"Whoa!" Nick exclaims catching Andy by the waist when she almost knocks him over in the hallway. "Where's the fire?" he tries to quip.

"Sorry," she vehemently apologizes taking a step back to gather her senses. "I didn't see you."

"Obviously," Nick arches an eyebrow giving her the once-over. "What's going on with you?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard about your case," Nick tells her. "I get its difficult working with Cruz, but you need to make it work, Andy."

"Not you too," she sighs.

"She's your Superior Officer, Andy. You can't go against her orders like that," Nick says.

"_I_ didn't go against anything, Nick," she replies pointing a finger at her chest. "_I_ was trying to do _my_ job, but apparently that's some sort of crime these days!" she snaps before heading into the locker room.

* * *

"_Hey, Tania," Andy pulled out a chair before sitting down next to the young girl. The blood had been washed away, but the discoloration on her face still bore witness to the fact, that it had been there not too long ago. "I'm Andy; we met at your house earlier." She lowered her head trying to establish eye contact with Tania, but the girl kept on training her sight forward. _

"_Great idea," Cruz scoffed in the viewing room, as she, Traci and Sam watched the interaction._

"_Why don't you just give her a shot?" Traci asked standing up for her best friend, while Sam kept silent, watching the scene unfold before him. _

_The girl was in obvious shock, but Andy kept on trying to build some sort of rapport with her. "She knows what she's doing, Cruz," he added making her gape openmouthed at him._

"_What's that supposed to mean?" Marlo asked._

"_You ever heard of Tommy McNally?" Sam asked keeping his eyes trained on Andy._

"_Tommy Mc…," her voice fell silent, as she realized what Sam was trying to tell her. "Oh my God…," Marlo sighed covering her face with her hands._

"_I know what it's like, Tania," Andy said pouring a glass of water for them both. "Keeping up appearances, growing up before your time, taking care of __**him**__ when he's supposed to take care of __**you**__." The girl suddenly looked up at her, as if a light had been switched on in her mind._

"_Your d-d-dad…?" Tania stammered speaking her first sentence for the past four hours._

"_Yeah…," Andy exhaled taking a sip of water. "On the rare occasions that he was sober, he was great though," she smiled to herself. "We would take off for a couple of days, go camping on the outskirts of town, and just spend some time together. But whenever the day-to-day stuff started up again, it was like the bottles called to him…," the memories of the costs Tommy's addiction had had on her childhood still clear as day._

"…_and he was gone again." Tania added._

"_Yup!" Andy snapped the 'p' with her tongue. "You want to tell me about your dad?" she asked alerting the three people in the viewing room to what was about to transpire._

"_I dunno'," Tania said shrugging her shoulders. "I loved my dad, but he didn't love me enough," she grabbed the glass of water and gulped it down her throat very quickly before drying the excess water off of her mouth with the back of her hand._

_Something uncoiled in the pit of Andy's stomach by Tania's statement. "You can talk to me, Tania," she told the young girl. "You're safe."_

"_**Now**__, I am." _

* * *

"You all right?" Traci asks thirty minutes later finding Sam crouched over his desk, his elbows resting on the surface, holding his head in his hands.

"Yeah…," he sighs pushing his chair out before grabbing the folder marked _'Stanton Wheeler'_ and dropping it into the file cabinet.

"This case hit too close for home, eh?" Traci asks stating the obvious.

"You know what?" he tells her turning around to look at his partner. "Things have been going great for the past couple of days; it was like that day at the swimming pool was a new start for us. Then this case happens, and it's like she's pulling away again."

"She is." Traci states matter-of-factly surprising Sam.

"She is?" he asks raising a speculative eyebrow at her, while simultaneously crossing his arms across his chest.

"Listen…," Traci perches on the edge of his desk before continuing. "To say Andy has issues where Marlo is concerned would be putting it mildly, but something else is going on with her. I've tried talking to Nick about it, but…," Traci stops mid-sentence when she notices the frown on her partner's face.

"Collins?" Sam asks exasperatedly. "What does Collins have to do with _this_?" he asks confused.

"Come on, Sam…they've spent six months alone together, a bond of some sort _has_ developed, and if anything he should know what's up with her." Traci says.

Sam runs his fingers through his hair walking to the window to look out into the open space below them looking for a certain someone that he for the life of him can't get a read on.

* * *

After tying a black rubber band around her pony tail, Andy slides the pad of her index fingers across her upper lip applying some lip balm to it.

"Good work today, McNally," Marlo tells her coming to a full stop next to her.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Andy scoffs eying the woman next to her. Why does she intimidate her so much? Is it just her past with Sam or is it something else?

"I don't joke about work, McNally," the tightness of the Superior Officer's jaw tells Andy that she has overstepped, _again_.

"I didn't mean to offend you," she offers up as some sort of leeway to them being able to coexist.

"I know," Marlo nods her head in understanding, while Andy shuts her locker before picking up her duffel bag. "I talked to Sam."

"You did?" Andy asks arching a finely plucked eyebrow at her. But of course she has. They were co-workers and friends too, so why did she suddenly have this inclination to tell Andy that they'd talked?

"Yeah…, and I'm sorry." The usually brusque Superior Officer tells Andy in a soft tone of voice.

"For…?" Andy asks in disbelief feeling completely lost.

"Your situation…with your dad…," she attempts to explain making Andy realize once and for all that her entire childhood has been opened up to her by someone she thought she could trust.

"That's none of your business…," she counters feeling sick in the pit of her stomach.

"I know, all I'm saying is that I get it now. Your need to believe that girl when the evidence said otherwise. I just wanted to tell you that I get it." The look on her face tells Andy that maybe Marlo has had a similar childhood to hers.

* * *

"_Oh-my-God_…," Andy breathes closing her eyes, while salivating in the amazing taste of Sam's homemade Lasagna. "You're a great cook," she tells him opening her eyes and watching that smirk of his covering his entire face.

"Told ya, McNally," he grins at her making them both remember a time when he'd boasted about his skills in the kitchen among other things.

She had shown up on his door step about an hour and a half ago, intent on tip-toeing around the actual reason she had shown up. Holding a bottle of Merlot in her hand, she had told him that she was in no way okay about him telling Cruz about her childhood, but that she understood why he had done it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Andy smiles tentatively. She takes a sip of wine, while concurrently wondering where the evening will go. They need to talk things through; in particular her reaction to him agreeing with Cruz on their latest case.

"Glad you approve though," Sam winks at her with that look on his face, that's always told her that he knows she's hiding something from him. "You wanna talk about it?" he asks, already knowing what her answer will be.

"Nope!" she exclaims before picking up the fork again, and resuming eating. She knows that they need to talk, but it's one thing to know it, and an entirely different thing to actually do it.

The rest of the time had been spent in silence, the only reprieve being the clattering of silverware when one of them pick up the goblet with red wine to take a much needed drink.

Sam has moved to the sink with their plates now, and Andy has just remained seated watching him. The way his muscles moves in the tight tee shirt he is wearing is consuming her. It isn't until just now that she realizes how much she really _wants_ him.

She wants him flat on his back, in bed, staring up at her with those eyes of his. Andy wants him at her mercy, and she wants to burry herself in him, and forget about everything that's happened lately – especially those six months she spent away from him.

"Hey…," Sam smiles covering her hands with his when she's wrapped herself around his rigid frame resting her cheek against his cotton clad back. "You okay?" he asks for what seems like the umpteenth time today turning his head as much as he can until he's blown away with the unique scent of her.

"I will be," Andy turns her head, placing a kiss on his back with a deep sigh. Moving her hands up his powerful chest, making him groan she has one goal in sight. For the first time in what seems like forever, she knows exactly what she wants, who she wants and how to get it.

Her desire for Sam's familiar body hasn't weaned in the months they've been apart, quite the contrary actually. Even away on the task force, she could still remember every ripple, muscle and sexual move of his.

"Andy…what are you doing?" Sam asks grabbing her wrists when she's about to slide her hands up under his tee shirt to feel him – skin on skin.

"Has it really been _that_ long that you have to ask, Swarek?" Andy asks grinding her body against his in such a fashion that there isn't an inch of air between the two of them.

"What's gotten into you?" he asks turning around to hold her in his arms.

"Nothing," Andy shrugs her shoulders before adding, "_yet_."

Her resolute face makes him shake his head in awe, unable to hide his dimples – a telltale sign of his that he finds her amusing. "You sure?" Sam frames her face, as he asks her the question. He doesn't want_ them_ to rush things, doesn't want to rush _her_.

Andy answers his question, the only way she knows how – by grabbing his face and slanting her mouth across his. Sam recovers quickly from the onslaught of lips, gloss and tongue by bending slightly in the knees and picking her up by the thighs. Andy immediately wraps her denim clad legs around Sam's waist, as he walks them towards his bedroom.

* * *

Their clothes are strewn everywhere, the dimmed lights in the room showcases two forms on the bed, as soft moans emanate from the room.

Andy's brown tresses cascade down her naked back, while the grey sheet has fluttered down to her waist as she rests her hands on Sam's muscular chest. She's moving her lower body in these little thrusts that are driving Sam to the brink of madness.

His hands are clasped at her waist, rubbing the exposed skin in circular motions, trying to occupy his mind with something besides her thrusts, her moans and her perfect breasts. Sam can't keep his eyes off of Andy's face, she has her eyes closed, is in deep concentration, as he suspects another wave of pleasure is about to roar through her frame.

She's biting her lip, draining the color from it as she's riding it through. It's only when her perfect lips are formed as an _'O'_ that he knows she's through it. It's a look he'll never tire of seeing on her face when they're intimate with each other.

"_Oh-my -God_…," Andy sighs prettily in the deep recesses of her throat before collapsing on Sam's chest, those beautiful brown curls blanketing them in.

Sam caresses the slope of her spine with his calloused, yet tender hands spreading immediate warmth through her body. "You okay?" he whispers against her hairline once his breathing is somewhat under control again.

"Mmm…," she hums in answer to his question enjoying his touch on her skin. A touch she hasn't even realized that she's missed immensely. "You?"

"Never been better," Sam grins wickedly down at her before using his thumb and forefinger to move her face closer to his before pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss.

* * *

It isn't until several hours later that panic sieges Andy's entire figure. She's been listening to Sam's soft grunts, but she can't fall asleep herself. Her head is nestled against his strong chest, an arm slung carelessly across his abdomen, while their legs are entwined.

Being with him again has been amazing, she needed him, and he has been there for her. But it has only delayed what Andy knows comes next. She has to deal with what happened on the task force, and a relationship with Sam on the sideline won't work. In fact, it will undoubtedly prove to be counterproductive.

She loves him, she loves him a crazy amount, but she can't drag Sam into what is already a huge mess when their relationship is as fickle as it is at the moment.

Untangling her limbs from Sam's, she carefully moves into a seated position on the edge of the bed. She sits there naked, staring into space, wondering what happens next.

Picking up her strewn-about clothes, Andy shimmies into her boy shorts and closes the clasp of her bra before sitting back down on the edge of the bed. Looking down at her tattoo, her senses assault her with the way Sam paid homage to it hours earlier. His lips and tongue marked every inch of it, until he began actually marking it – with his teeth. Small nibbles that had driven Andy crazy, but then again she had repaid him in full after having tackled him in bed, and given his chest the same reception.

Despite her intentions to leave, somehow Andy can't make her feet move. Not until she takes one last look at Sam's sleeping body. Clenching her fingers in the sheet beneath her, she turns slightly to let her eyes wander the length of his sleeping body.

What she won't give to just shed her underwear and lie down with him again, but she can't. It wouldn't be fair to Sam or to herself. No matter how much it hurts, Andy has to tie it in.

Getting off of the bed, picking up the rest of her clothes before tip-toeing into the living room to put it on.

Locating her purse, she takes one last look around before walking out on the man she loves.

* * *

The morning light is shining through the drawn curtains, as Sam begins to slowly wake up from his slumber. Scratching his chest with one hand, he reaches out for Andy with the other, but only comes up with air.

"Andy?!" he calls out, sitting up straight in bed before finally coming to realize that she's gone.

_Again_.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **I feel like it's necessary to point out a few things about this story to some of the guests that have been reviwing this story.

This is **NOT** an anti-Andy story. I love the character of Andy, just as I love the character of Sam. However I do not agree with everything either of them do, and this is **FICTION**. I write because I love to write, and because I get a kick out of developing scenarios in my head and putting them down on paper. It's fine if you don't agree with them, but there's no need to post such crude things as I've been receiving on the last chapter. If you don't like my stories, then don't read or review. Please.

Now on to the story ... this chapter explains what exactly happened to Andy one night on the taskforce, and why she and Nick have bonded like they have. Hope you enjoy, and please leave some words. I just ask they be respectful :)

* * *

**VII**

The next day, Andy is sitting in Dr. Shute's office, tapping her foot tenaciously against the carpet in the room.

Dr. Shute is a woman in her thirties; brunette, immaculate dressed in a black pantsuit today and wears jewelry that bears witness to her being a member of the upper class. She is wearing an impressive engagement ring on her finger that makes Andy wonder if money truly can make you happy.

"Andy?" the doctor asks. "As interesting as your display of tap dancing may be, I think we should deal with what happened last night."

Andy had called Dr. Shute's emergency line in the wee hours of the morning needing to talk. She is on the afternoon shift today, secretly wishing that _that_ will keep her from running into Sam later on.

"I can't change what happened," Andy tells her fiddling with her hands in her lap, trying to occupy her mind with something tangible other than how crappy she feels about leaving Sam last night.

"I'm not talking about changing anything, Andy. I'm talking about dealing with _why_ it happened, and what significance it will have on your relationship with Sam."

Hearing his name spoken aloud, Andy's attention is re-aimed at the good doctor.

_Sam _

"How?" Andy whispers suddenly realizing how truly messed up she is. How messed up _everything_ is because of _her_, and her inability to actually talk to Sam instead of jumping his delectable bones.

"Well…," the doctor crosses one leg over the other before continuing. "That's what we're here to find out, isn't it?"

* * *

"_Hey, this is Andy, please leave a message," _Sam huffs out a breath when he for the umpteenth time can only reach her answering machine.

"Come on, Andy. Dammit!" he exclaims ending the call with a quick movement of his index finger on the button of his phone.

"Where's the fire?" Traci asks just having walked in on Sam pacing their office.

"Can't reach her," he offers up as an explanation. The '_her'_ is self-explanatory in Sam's mind, as he tosses his cell phone onto the desk with a loud thud.

"Did something happen?" Traci asks placing the files that she has been carrying, onto her desk before turning to him for answers.

"I don't know…," Sam sighs rubbing his face. "We had dinner last night, we talked – or tried to…," he stops suddenly as if holding back what happened next from Traci.

"And then what? _Sam_?" Traci keeps on prodding realizing that something big must've gone down between the two of them last night if Andy were avoiding his calls.

He moves to the edge of his desk, and leans against it before releasing a deep breath. "We slept together, alright?" Sam keeps his eyes trained forward, not looking at Traci as he explains everything. As if he's ashamed or something that he didn't make her talk to him instead. "We slept together, and when I woke up, she was gone."

"Gone? What do you mean _gone_?" Traci asks focusing on _that_ specific word. Those six months Andy had been gone had been brutal to go through. True, she had had Gail, but it hadn't been the same. Not that she blamed Andy for taking on the opportunity that Luke originally had offered to Traci, but it had been tough is all.

"She left in the middle of the night, and now I can't get a hold of her." He pushes off of the table before rounding it and sitting down on his chair. "I can't get a read on her, Nash. It's like its right in front of me, but I can't see it."

* * *

"I wasn't raped."

The tone in Andy's voice tells Dr. Shute that it's very important for her patient to emphasize that particular point to her doctor.

"Okay," she nods her head urging her to continue.

"We were in deep cover. Nick got on the inside much sooner that I did. We were running short on time, so I started hanging out more with some of the girls at the factory, staying out late - which eventually meant that I got invited to the _right_ parties."

"The _right_ parties?" Dr. Shute asks with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right." Andy nods her head.

* * *

_The memory of a particular party comes to mind. How one of the guys had talked her up, putting his hands __**everywhere**__. She had made eye contact with Nick several times, but each time assuring him with a nod of her head that she was fine._

_It was a world unlike any she had ever known. Never had she felt like a piece of meat, as when she was being sized up by the men, who ran the drug operation that ran through the warehouse. Andy had been able to take the calloused touches, kisses and so forth, but it hadn't been before one of the henchmen had forced himself on a young girl that Andy had reached her limit._

_Her protective instincts had kicked into high gear, even back when Yves had started working at the warehouse. Andy had been detailed with the task of getting her familiarized with the machines, the rules and so forth. She had been a sweet girl, eighteen years old, away from home and desperate to make some money to embark on a much prettier world than the one she had been stuck in._

_Andy had watched Yves at the party, watched her being shown off by Pierce, one of the goons who were in charge of the day-to-day stuff at the warehouse. He had dragged her upstairs, when Yves had shot a pleadingly look back at Andy._

_She had followed them upstairs, and walked in on him forcing himself on her. Every fiber in Andy's body had recoiled from what she was seeing, and she had called out, which had served to distract Pierce in such a fashion that Yves had been able to back away._

_Pierce was a typical alpha-male, exhuming of self-righteousness and self-importance as well as thinking of himself as God's gift to women – whether it be consensual or not. _

_He had eventually let Yves go, but not before grabbing her arm roughly and yanking her into his arms. Andy had interceded, which had earned her a swift black eye and a broken lip. She had been caught by surprise by his attack and had stumbled backwards hitting the wall behind her._

_The next day Yves hadn't shown up for work, Pierce had shown up by noon, smirking at Andy whenever she caught his eyes on her, which had been often. Nick had been all over her the previous night, telling her off for putting herself in the middle of whatever Pierce had had going on with Yves. He had eventually calmed down; resulting in him apologizing profusely, while attending to the shiner and fractured lip Andy had been sporting._

_Nick had caught up with her in their crappy apartment after work, and told her what she had feared from the get-go. Yves was gone, and when you added someone like Pierce Greene into that equation that meant that he'd catched up with her that night, and silenced her._

_A couple of days later, Pierce had cornered Andy in the small canteen at the warehouse during the last couple of minutes of their lunch break. Pressing his lower body into Andy's backside at the counter, he had whispered crude words into her words consisting of; __**"You're up next, Sweetheart."**_

* * *

"Did he?" Dr. Shute asks pulling Andy out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"Did he hurt _you_?" she elaborates.

"No, he didn't." Andy denies vehemently. "I got a black eye and a broken lip, but other than _that_ his threats were only verbal."

"That can be enough..." the doctor stresses with a steady gaze directed at Andy.

"I know," she admits nodding her head repeatedly in acknowledgement of Dr. Shute's words.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Traci is standing in the open office space instructing Gail on how to proceed with a case when Andy comes dashing through – headed for the locker room to change. She gives a quick nod of her head before walking past them.

"What was _that_ about?" Gail asks taking a bite out of the apple she's working on.

"I don't know…," Traci looks towards her and Sam's office and finds him facing away from them, in deep conversation with Shaw. "But I'm going to find out." She announces following in Andy's footsteps.

When she arrives in the locker room she immediately pounds on Andy. "What are you doing?!" she exclaims.

"Getting ready for shift…?" Andy frowns at her friend's outburst. "…what's wrong?" she asks, as Traci inches closer to her, as she's suiting up.

"I've been dealing with Swarek _all_ day." Andy's attention is immediately heightened at the mention of his name. "Yes," Traci nods her head repeatedly at her friend's shocked expression. "Do you have _any_ idea how worried he's been about you?" she asks feeling oddly protective of her partner.

"I know…," Andy sighs arranging her brown locks in a ponytail. She had checked her cell phone for messages after leaving Dr. Shute's office, and had found ten voice mails waiting for her – all of them from Sam. "I know I messed up last night."

"You both did." Traci offers up turning on her heel and taking a seat on the bench behind them. "Did you even _talk_ at all before jumping into the sack together?"

Andy whips her head around, a shocked expression on her face. "I didn't need to _talk_, Trace. I needed…," she stops mid-sentence just staring at her friend.

"What?" she asks softly regretting her earlier outburst. "What did you _need_?"

"_Him_," Andy tells her raising her shoulders in a soft shrug. She sits down next to Traci on the bench, stretching her legs out in front of her. "I needed _him_."

"Then why don't _you_ tell _him_ that?" she suggests.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me!" Oliver bellows slamming his hands down on Sam's desk outraged. "You let her get away with _that_?" he asks stunned.

"What are you getting so riled up about, Shaw? I'm the one who was abandoned in the middle of the night." Sam says not getting where all the fire is coming from.

"I'm not talking about _that_, Sammy," he replies. "I'm talking about _you_ letting McNally tiptoe around the actual topic."

"Which _is_?" Sam asks arching an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Brother…," Oliver stands upright with a sigh. "You sided with Cruz on a case," he tells Sam counting off the reasons that he and Andy needed to talk with his fingers. "You told Cruz about Tommy and you just told me that McNally's been holding something back ever since returning from the taskforce. You didn't use to be _this_ dense, brother."

"Hey!" Sam exclaims offended on his own behalf. "I am not _dense_, alright?"

"Then what, Sammy? _What_?" Oliver barks at him. He can't help but feel protective over McNally, over all their rookies really. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something is up with her, that something is eating away at her.

"I've missed her, alright?!" Sam shoots out of his chair, a little too forceful apparently judging by the look on Shaw's face. "I'm sorry," he apologizes immediately with a wave of his hand. "I just…," Sam sighs closing his eyes. "I love her, alright? I do. But it isn't easy for me to let it all go, and give myself like that to another person."

"You can't let the past influence your present, brother. _You_ told me that," Oliver reminds him. He and Zoë had actually reconciled that night after his talk with Sam. He wishes _that_ could happen to his friend as well, that he could settle down with someone and raise a family with them. He deserves that and McNally does too.

"It's not _that_ easy, Ollie." Sam persists vehemently.

"I know that, look at Zoë and me. We're still struggling now and again, but we promised each other to never leave the house angry or to leave anything unsettled before heading to work or soccer with the girls. And it works, Sammy. It _works_."

Sam nods his head slowly, taking in everything that his friend is telling him. Maybe he should just have made McNally sit down again last night, and implored her to tell him about what was going on with her. Should have talked the case through, and him telling Marlo about Tommy as well. He hadn't done either of those things to be cruel, but to make both her and Cruz see that if they were ever to work together or for it to be successful; they needed to understand each other. And yeah, maybe Sam had gone the wrong way about it, but his intentions had been good.

"Maybe you're right," he ends up telling Shaw standing by the window overlooking the open office space when he spots McNally disappearing into the equipment room.

"Took you long enough," Oliver quips slapping Sam on the back as guys do.

* * *

"There you are," a voice says from the doorway of the equipment room, as Andy is putting on her duty belt, making sure that everything is in place.

Her shoulders sack realizing that it's not Sam's voice, but Nick's. "Hey," she says turning around to shoot a friendly smile at him.

The look on Nick's face however, tells her that whatever's on his mind isn't good. His eyes testify to that fact, as they run over the equipment room making sure they're alone before closing the door behind him.

"I need to talk to you," he tells her inching closer.

"Is something up with Gail?" Andy asks curiously. Holding her gun in her hand, she turns her back to him, and walks to the clearing tube.

"No, this isn't about Gail," Nick assures her crossing his arms in front of his chest watching as she pulls back the slide of her gun and points it at the clearing tube.

"Oh?" she asks looking at him.

"Better get _that_ out of the way first," he smiles weakly at her nodding his head at her gun.

She smiles back at him before turning her attention back to the task at hand, dry firing into the clearing tube. "So, what's up?" she asks turning towards him, holstering her gun.

"Yves."

The mere mention of her name stops Andy cold. When Nick places a hand on her arm, her hand is still placed on her holstered gun.

"They found her." It wasn't a question; it was a statement of fact. Andy had known ever since Yves had disappeared that she'd be in a body bag the next time she'd see her. No one got away with disrespecting Pierce Greene, which in his eyes had been just what Yves had done that night.

"I knew it…," she admits trying to hold the tears at bay, but failing miserably. Andy places a hand over her mouth trying to stifle her sobs.

Nick has her wrapped in his arms within mere seconds, holding her tight and cradling her head underneath his chin. "I'm sorry, Andy. I know how hard this must be." He presses a kiss against the top of her head running one hand up and down her back, while holding her close with the other.

"I tried, I really tried, Nick," she hiccups in a weak voice remembering the vicious attack she'd suffered from Pierce, while attempting to protect Yves.

"I know, I know." He tightens his hold on her, as Andy attempts to regain her breath – both of them oblivious to the pair of dark eyes witnessing their close embrace.

* * *

_The Penny _is quiet, but it's more or less a given with it being a weeknight. Sam has been sitting on a stool for the past hour trying to digest what he saw in the equipment room a couple of hours ago.

His glass of scotch is sitting in front of him, filled to the brink. Liam has been by numerous times checking to see if he needs a re-fill, but since he hasn't downed it, his visits have proven to be futile.

His brain is set on repeat; seeing Andy wrapped in Nick's arms is tearing him apart. Maybe Nash is right, maybe they did grow close on the taskforce, maybe too close? He knows from the night he drank with Peck in here that Collins had been instrumental in helping Andy get over _them_. Gail had mentioned something or other about a self-help book and a diploma.

They complement each other; Collins and McNally. Maybe she has grown tired of Sam's shit and decided to take on someone younger and with less baggage – although of what he knows about Collins he has had his fair share of baggage from his time in Afghanistan, and he seems to be stuck on Peck.

Sam is so foregone in his thoughts that he doesn't even notice when someone occupies the stool next to his. It isn't until he receives a soft elbow in the ribs that he turns sideways to look at his neighbor.

It's Cruz.

"Detective," she smiles big at him before signaling for Liam to pour her whatever Sam's drinking. "You still drink _this_?" Marlo asks once the drink has been placed in front of her, inhaling the odor.

"Once a copper," Sam shrugs holding his drink up for a salute.

"Always a copper," she chimes in before they clink glasses and down the dark liquid. "How are _things_?" Marlo asks after they've both set their empty glasses on the bar.

"_Things_?" Sam pinches the bridge of his nose before turning to look at her again.

"_Yeah,_ you and McNally – how are _things_?" she asks watching as a ray of emotions flit across his face.

"No offense, Marlo," he begins. "But I can't discuss that with you." The effects of how he had shared Andy's past with her is telling him that divulging the status of their relationship to her isn't for her to know or for him to tell.

"Understood," Marlo nods her head in agreement.

* * *

"You sure you don't want me to drive you home?" Nick asks Andy when they're sitting in his truck in the parking lot behind _The Penny_.

Frank had given her the night off once Nick had told him what had happened. Best is one of the few, who knows what happened in detail on the taskforce – in particular about Yves. As a Staff Sergeant he's privy to that type of information, and has been understanding and flexible in terms of giving Andy the time she needs to find herself again.

"_Yeah_," she nods her head fixing her eyes on the silver truck parked a few spaces down. "I need to _talk_ to him."

"Alright," Nick smiles at her, as she unfastens the seatbelt. "Just thread carefully and hey…," he tells her once she's standing on the pavement. "Call me if you need _anything_." Nick stresses the _anything_, making her realize that she's lucky to have him in her life.

"I will, thanks." Andy tells him before closing the door and heading in the direction of the back entrance of _The Penny_.

* * *

"I can't believe you still have _this_?" Sam laughs looking at the faces staring back at him in the photograph. It has been taken eons ago, in the academy. Back when Ollie had had hair and Sam had had way _too_ much hair. The two friends have an arm slung around each other's shoulders, while they are flanked by Marlo on one side and Sarah on the other.

"I never have been able to toss it out; it holds some sentimental value I guess," she shrugs her shoulders as a way of an explanation.

Sam can't move his eyes off of Sarah; his sister. It had taken much convincing to get her to visit him back then, but once she had met Marlo and Ollie in particular it had been like she'd flourished, and the sister Sam had had prior to her attack had come out, or parts of her at least.

"Maybe I should put it up on the bulletin board to get a rise out of Ollie…?" Sam wonders out loud when Marlo snatches the photograph from him with a scowl on her face.

"Unless my sight has degenerated in the past couple of minutes, _Detective_, then Shaw isn't the only one looking ridiculous in this," she shoots back at him.

"Nice…," his smile freezes in place seeing Andy from across the bar. He doesn't know how long she's been standing there, but judging by the look on her face it's been awhile. It isn't until she turns on her heel to leave, that Sam hurriedly says goodnight to Marlo before hurrying out after her.

Once he's outside in the darkened parking lot, he spends a couple of seconds adjusting his eyes to the darkness before searching the lot for a certain brunette.

It doesn't take him long to find her.

"Andy!" he yells at her retreating form a couple of meters ahead of him. "Hang on," he asks of her when he catches up to her, touching her elbow and making her turn around to face him.

"What is it, Sam?" she sighs deeply turning tired eyes on him.

"We need to _talk_." He persists intensely.

"Why?" Andy shrugs her shoulders apathetically. "You've made your choice, Sam. I would've appreciated a heads up, but…," she turns on her heel to walk away when suddenly he has had it.

"Oh, for the love of…," he whispers furiously before grabbing her hand, halting her process and turning her around to face him again. He frames her face with his hands, pulling her in close.

"What are you…," Andy's words are swallowed up by Sam's insistent mouth on hers. She opens her mouth as his unrelenting tongue asks for access. A whimper escapes her throat, while they get lost in each other under a lone streetlight in the otherwise darkened parking lot behind _The Penny_.

* * *

**A/N2: **Things should be improving for McSwarek from now on, but that doesn't mean it's all rosey just yet ;) also: Marlo isn't a villainess in my eyes; more like a thorne in Andy's side that makes all her insecurities come out. But even _that_ should be put on hold for now.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **This chapter should explain what has been going on in Andy's head ever since returning from the taskforce. I hope it both makes sense and answers any questions you might've had ... and please throw me a line or two - they keep the inspiration flowing ;o)

* * *

**VIII**

* * *

**Trust (n). Firm reliance on the integrity, ability or character of a person or thing. **

* * *

Sam presses his forehead against Andy's when the need for air becomes too great. They both inhale large gulps of air into their deprived lungs, while simultaneously trying to gather their jumbled thoughts.

He is the first one to speak.

"That was…," he breathes.

"…yeah…," Andy chimes in nodding her head slowly. Her grip around Sam's waist is strong, it's almost as if she's afraid that if she let's go, he'll disappear into thin air.

He can't say that he isn't afraid of that very same thing. Sam needs to sit down with her, and get her to talk to him. To get her talking about what's been going on with her; why Collins had been comforting her in the equipment room earlier in the day.

He has got a ton of questions that he needs Andy to answer for him – at least some of them. And maybe then, he can answer some of hers as well.

"Let me take you home, McNally?" Sam finally asks. When she quirks a questioning eyebrow at him in confusion, he elaborates. "To talk, Andy. _Just_ to talk."

"Okay," she nods her head slowly in agreement before they walk to the silver truck.

* * *

Later, Andy is standing under the spray of water in her shower. Combing her fingers through her long tresses, she makes sure that all the shampoo has been rinsed out; she can't help but think about the car ride home – the very _quiet_ car ride home.

Sam had helped her into the truck, probably wanting to make sure she wouldn't bolt. His gaze had been fixed on the road, while Andy had studied his face intensely.

Upon their arrival at her condo, Sam had suggested that she take a shower, while he'd fix them coffee – his ability to know exactly what she needed had been _unbelievable_. _He_ had been unbelievable. This shower had been just what she had needed.

Sliding the shower door open, she reaches her hand out for a towel. Wrapping her damp body in a green bath towel, she walks to the mirror, gasping at the reflection that is staring back at her.

How can _he_ even want _her_ looking like _this_? Between her puffy eyes and mascara-smeared face, she looks like an utter mess. Grabbing a second towel, she hastily dries her long tresses before rubbing her body dry with the other.

Snatching a pair of flannel pajamas pants and a blue singlet from her closet, she dresses quickly, deciding to let her curly, wet tresses cascade down her back. Applying a little deodorant underneath her arms, she pads into the living room on bare feet anxious to see where this _talk_ will take _them_.

* * *

Sam turns around when the sound of a pair of feet walking across the hard wood floor reaches his ear canal.

"Feel better?" he asks, sitting on the arm rest of the couch.

"I guess," Andy replies shrugging her shoulders before sitting down on the opposite end of the couch in a cross-legged position.

She reaches for the mug of coffee sitting on the small table placed in front of the couch. Inhaling the strong aroma of the beverage, she closes her eyes before blowing on the liquid, taking a careful sip.

"I messed up," are the first three words out of Sam's mouth. She glares at him, as she takes in the meaning behind his words and everything that's happened in the past two days between them.

"_You_ messed up?" Andy asks stressing the _'you'_.

He moves to sit on the couch making every muscle in Andy's body tense up. Licking his lower lip, he readies himself for what he has to say next. "Things have changed since you left, Andy," he states.

"I know _that_," she concedes placing the mug back onto the surface of the coffee table. If anything's clear to Andy these days, it's _that_. Sam's position as a _Detective_ has changed the dynamic between them. Before she had left they had been on a somewhat equal footing, using each other to bounce ideas off of, but now Sam is in charge of the cases. His word is _the_ word.

"While you were gone, I realized that something had to happen – _professionally_." He stresses the last word of his sentence, knowing that Andy still feels insecure around Marlo – without having to. "_That_ and then I felt like it was the perfect way to honor Jerry and who he was."

The mere mention of Jerry's name momentarily catapults Andy back to that dark evening in the parking lot behind _The Penny_. How much the prospect of Sam thinking she had been to blame for what had happened had weighed down on her, and split her heart in tiny little pieces.

"He would be proud of you," is all she manages to get past her constricted throat, the aftermath of what his death had done to _them_ still fresh in her mind.

"Yeah…," he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose attempting to gather courage he isn't even certain he's in possession of. "What I said, what I told you _that_ night was my way of protecting you, myself from getting hurt."

"You think you were protecting us from getting hurt?" Andy asks her voice dripping with disdain when that's exactly what it had done. It _had_ hurt them.

"I know it doesn't make any sense alright?" he tells her standing up, running his fingers through his short hair. "Jerry had just died, I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and there were you _everywhere_ telling me to let you in, to open up, and I just couldn't. I couldn't because…," Sam suddenly stops coming to a halt in front of the very photograph he had seen at the party she had hosted a couple of weeks back. The very reason for why he hadn't been able to let her in. Because the moment you let people in, you run the risk of losing them. Just like they had all lost Jerry, and a great void had been left behind.

"Because what?" she asks drying away the tears that have during Sam's speech spilled down her cheeks.

"Because losing you is something I couldn't risk…," he lets the words hang in the air between them, as Andy tries to digest what he's saying.

"So, you had to end it first?" she asks trying to make sense out of what he is saying. He had ripped her heart apart _that_ night. He had made her feel inept at her job, and like a failure in their relationship.

"Yes," Sam says nodding his head.

* * *

_He slammed the door of his cruiser shut long before Nash had even unbuckled her seatbelt. They had driven together to Andy's apartment after McNally had finally picked up her phone slurring to him that Peck was missing._

_He took the steps – two at a time – to reach her in double time. His entire body was on alert, and had been ever since having heard the tremor in her tone of voice. He could kick himself – he should've walked her up last night, he should've insisted she come home with him – or hell even stayed over._

_This was on __**him**__._

_McNally was standing by the kitchen island by the time Sam entered the condo. She had her hands placed on the table surface, her eyes closed and breathing hard. He wanted to call out to her, but seeing her distraught form, he knew __**that**__ would be the exact wrong thing to do._

"_McNally…," he whispered her name before attempting to approach her. He guessed that she was on edge as it was after having been through what she had. _

_It was like he was nine years old again; he could still remember his sister's face after __**her**__ attack. It had taken Sarah a lot of time to let people get close to her again, even to __**this**__ day she was still weary of men she didn't know. _

_The disheveled look on her face that met him when their eyes found each other from across the room tore him apart. Andy wetted her lips before attempting to talk past the lump in her throat. Her brown eyes locked with his when Sam finally managed to move his feet from his spot behind the couch, where he'd been standing ever since saying her name._

"_Andy…," the tenderness in the way he said her first name made tears prick behind her eyelids. Andy took a deep breath, as she watched him cross the hardwood floor coming to a halt in front of her. Cupping her face in his hands, Sam stared at her, wanting to make sure that she was indeed okay._

_His eyes swept across her face taking in her features and any harm that might've come to her. He noticed the needle mark on her neck, assessing it, as he brushed the pad of his thumb across it causing Andy to wince slightly._

"_Sorry," Sam apologized swallowing thickly. _

"_S'okay," she replied._

_In a matter of minutes the entire condo was swimming with Detectives, CSU's and their fellow officers of 15 Division._

* * *

"It scared me shitless, Andy," he tells her looking down at her sitting on the couch. "I even told Jerry that you were lucky that guy didn't grab you too."

"Being scared isn't an excuse!" Andy snaps at him, grabbing her mug before walking into the kitchen to rinse it out.

"I know _that_," Sam says following her to the kitchen island. "I know that _I_ hurt _you_," he places his hands on the table before leaning in towards Andy, attempting to obtain eye contact with her.

"Good for _you_," she whistles at him sarcastically before placing the mug on the drying rack next to the sink. "You should go," Andy tells him seemingly out of nowhere.

"Andy, come on," he pleads with her.

"I spent six weeks, Sam, _six weeks_," Andy emphasizes her point by showing six fingers to him before continuing. "Calling you, waiting for you, giving you the benefit of the doubt and you just ignored me. What does _that_ say?"

"I handled things badly, I know that. But it doesn't take away what I feel for you; what I _still_ feel for you."

"Which you chose to tell me when I was holding a bomb in my hands!" Andy shoots back at him ironically.

When she attempts to walk past him, he touches her elbow, slowing her progress down. "When should I have told you, Andy?" Sam murmurs close to her ear. "When you tossed the keys to me? When you refused to talk to me after the shooting in holding?" he watches her close her eyes, taking in what he's saying. "Or maybe when you were cuddling up with Collins at _The Penny_ later that day?"

"Nick has nothing to do with _us_," she adamantly argues.

If one thing is working in her life right now, it's her friendship with Nick. Andy honestly doesn't know where she would be today, if it hadn't been for him. They are one-hundred percent friends though; when she had lost Sam, Nick had become her sounding board. Their time on the task force had only strengthened his place in her life.

"That's not what it looked like in the equipment room," Sam reminds her with a raised eyebrow.

Andy walks around him, resuming her seat on the couch, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, resting her cheeks in the palms of her hands. "He knows what I've been through."

"I know…," Sam sighs desolately rubbing the back of his neck.

* * *

"_Where is she?!" He barked at Shaw._

"_Slow down, Sammy," he told his friend placing two firm hands on Sam's Kevlar clad chest. He knew his friend was in a hurry to rush in and see Andy, but Oliver highly doubted that she was prepared to deal with him at that precise moment. _

_Oliver had been one of the first officers on the scene after the shots had soared through the air. He had found Andy in a somewhat catatonic state, which she'd thankfully snapped out of when Nick had called her name._

"_I need to get in there, Shaw!" Sam exclaimed to his friend._

"_And __**I**__ need to make sure that you don't screw things up with McNally – any more than you already have, mind you."_

"_What?" he asked exasperatedly crossing his arms across his chest defiantly. _

"_**You**__ heard me."_

_At that precise moment EMT's were wheeling a badly injured Collins out on a gurney, while an obviously distressed McNally was holding his hand. Clutching his hand would actually be a more precise description of the scene that had unfolded in front of him. _

_When she had finally looked up, their eyes had met momentarily, and they had both been suspended in time. If Sam hadn't known any better, he could've sworn that he'd seen a tear travel down her flushed cheek._

* * *

"What happened?" Sam is now sitting on the edge of the coffee table opposite Andy on the couch. He watches, as she sits up straight, her otherwise clear brown eyes brimming with tears.

She takes a deep breath before reciting words that have been imprinted in her brain ever since going away with Nick on the taskforce. "What happens on a taskforce, stays…," Andy's words are halted by the pad of Sam's index finger across her lips.

"Don't give me _that_ line, Andy. I've lived it, been through it," he tells her. Andy knows that his words comes from a good place, but opening herself up to him about Yves, also means opening her heart up to him again. She doesn't know if she's ready for that just yet.

"I know…," she digs her teeth into her lower lip – a nervous tell of hers – contemplating what to do next.

"Listen," his warm hands find her hands on top of her knees, rubbing her knuckles in a soothing motion before continuing. "I get wanting to bottle it all up, I even get confiding in Collins," he bites the inside of his cheek at the mention of him. "But if you want this; _us_ then you need to trust me. You _can_ trust me, Andy."

"Sam…this isn't about whether or not I trust you."

"Then what is it about?" he asks.

"Me. It's about me," she tells him cryptically.

"I don't understand."

Andy lowers her head and watches their hands; somehow in the past couple of minutes their fingers have intertwined. Chancing a look at Sam, she realizes that right in this moment she has what she has been longing for. All those lonely nights in the crappy cover apartment, all her thoughts and dreams – they have led her to this moment.

"I'm not like proud of it."

"Of…?" Sam asks letting the question float around.

"The taskforce," she elaborates making him frown. "I'm not proud of it, because I know you weren't proud of me."

He is in shock, as air whistles out between Sam's lips. "Is _that_ what you think?" he asks leaning back in stunned silence. "That I'm not proud of you?"

Andy shrugs her shoulders as her only reply.

"You took down a major drug operation, Andy – why wouldn't I be proud of that?" Sam asks squeezing her fingers with his.

She exhales a deep breath before looking into his eyes. "Because of how I left…how the taskforce ended…"

"UC operations or taskforces rarely end the way you imagine them to, Andy," he reminds her. "My last one didn't exactly have a standardized ending to it either."

Andy's face contorts into a frown, as she takes in what Sam is saying. The still fresh memory of meeting him badly beaten in front of the farm house is still fresh in her mind, and the responsibility she still feels at what happened is _still_ there.

"How did you get past what happened?" she asks.

"To answer _that_, I need to know what happened to you." He watches, as Andy's entire body tenses up and quickly adds, "You can tell me, Andy. I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened."

She stands up and achieves some distance from him. Andy can't look him in the eye and talk about Yves and how she'd failed her. Because that is the exact feeling Andy has been dealing with lately.

_Being a failure. _

* * *

"It wasn't _your_ fault," the warmth in his voice settles her quivering self down. "None of it is - what happened with Brennan, Jerry or Yves. None of it is on _you_." He tries to appease her having caught up with her at the window overlooking the city. His arms are wrapped around her shoulders from behind, as he presses a kiss against the crown of her head.

"Yes, it was…," Andy tells him flatly. She's a cop, she's supposed to save people – not leave them in the hands of people like Pierce Greene.

"I'd wish there was some way I could've spared you to go through that," Sam whispers. "Being undercover is like splitting yourself into two; you're _you_, but at the same time you have to be someone else too."

It is the first time Sam has talked about his UC experiences with her – except for JD of course. She has always known that he's done a lot of them, but never in any detail.

"How did _you_ do it?" she asks, slowly relaxing into Sam's embrace. The smell of him is still as soothing as ever.

He clears his throat before speaking. "I tried ignoring it at first, but eventually came to realize that if I wanted to keep myself afloat then I needed to put _Sam_ aside when my alter ego had to be put into play." His breath tickles the skin behind Andy's ear when he exhales. "I don't have any formula for you, Andy, _you_ have to find your own way, but I _do_ know that ignoring it will only make it that much worse the next time."

"I don't know if there'll be a next time," she breathes deeply. Removing his arms from around her shoulders, she walks back to the couch, curling up on one end.

"Don't let what happened to Yves stand in the way of doing UC work again, Andy," he tells her joining her on the couch.

"_She_ got killed back of _me_!" Andy states pointing a finger at her chest angrily.

"No, she didn't." Sam maintains firmly with a shake of his head.

"You don't understand…," she sighs shaking her head resolutely.

He can't argue with that assessment. He hadn't been there with her, Collins had. As much as it hurt to even think it, then the guy had an upper hand on Sam, he knew what had gone down.

Sure, Andy had told him about Yves, but knowing about the circumstances that has led to her distancing herself from him and the people who loves her is a far cry from knowing how to fix it for her.

"Then enlighten me," he urges her on.

"Yves trusted me, but I didn't deserve or honor that trust. I couldn't protect her from Greene when it really came down to it."

"You didn't know," Sam reminds her vehemently rubbing her bare shoulder.

"That's no excuse," Andy sustains unwilling to give herself an inch of wiggle room in the guilt department. All Sam knows is that Greene is damned lucky he's dead. He knows that what little Andy has revealed of her time on the taskforce, it's only a fraction of what had gone down between her and Greene.

"So, what?" Sam asks shrugging his shoulders. "You gonna spend the rest of your life beating yourself up about _this_? Is that would Yves would want?"

Andy looks up at the mention of her name frowning. "You don't know anything about her, Sam."

"Maybe not, but I do know _you_," he maintains. "You're beating yourself up about something that was out of your control, Andy. You may feel guilty about what happened to her, and that's fine, but you need to work through it. Otherwise you'll drown."

"You're right…," she bites into her lower lip as she feels the tears closing in. Covering her eyes with her hands, she attempts to keep calm but comes up short as her entire body is shuddering at the onslaught of emotions.

"Hey," he whispers inching closer to her on the couch, continuing to caress her shoulder in a soothing motion. "I'm right here, Andy. I'm not going anywhere," Sam promises cradling her in his arms, as she settles her head underneath his chin exhaling a shuddery breath.

"You promise?" she asks wrapping her arms around his muscular mid-section.

"Promise."

* * *

Much later, Sam is lying on his back on the couch cradling a sleeping Andy in his arms. Her legs are on the onside of his, while one of his hands is grasping hers on his chest and the other is rubbing her back in circular motions.

He feels the rise and fall of her chest against his own, while mentally walking through _everything_ that has happened today.

They are far from okay, but at least they have taken some important steps today, she has opened up to him about the taskforce and he has opened up to her about his UC experience. An experience, he hopes can help Andy overcome what happened with Pierce and Yves on the taskforce.

Sam subconsciously tightens his hold on her hand just thinking about Greene. It kills him that Andy is left with the guilt of Yves' death, while the actual perpetrator; Pierce is dead and devoid of punishment for his actions.

She exhales shifting in her sleep, burrowing her head into the spot where Sam's neck meets his throat. He kisses her on the side of her face bringing forth a soft smile on her lips.

"I love you."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Here's the next installment :) took a little longer than anticipated, but here it is nonetheless.

I want to thank you all for continued feedback, favorites and alerts - it means a lot :)

* * *

**IX**

"You seem better," Dr. Shute comments a couple of days later in her office.

"I am," Andy answers unable to contain the smile on her face.

Ever since _that_ night, things have been going extremely well between her and Sam. They have eaten dinner together, talked and just been _together_.

"Sam?" the doctor guesses with a smirk hovering on her lips.

"Yes." Andy replies with an affirmative nod of her head.

"How is work?" Dr. Shute asks removing the cap of her fountain pen before aiming her attention at Andy again.

"It's okay," she hedges. The truth is that ever since Yves' body had been found, Andy had found it hard to focus on work.

"Okay?" Elizabeth prods with an arched eyebrow noticing the uneasiness that has taken up residence in Andy's body all of the sudden. Her patient has gone from relaxed to tense in five seconds flat.

"Yves' body has been recovered," she says flatly fidgeting with her watch. "Nick told me," Andy adds matter-of-factly before raising her head to look into Dr. Shute's stunned eyes.

"How did you react to the news?" the doctor asks crossing her right leg over her left.

"How I _reacted_?" Andy almost trips over _that_ word. "How do you _think_ I reacted?!" she snaps at Dr. Shute.

"I don't know," she shrugs her petite shoulders. "That's why I'm asking _you_."

Andy runs her lip through her teeth contemplating what to do next. The woman sitting in front of her has this uncanny ability to look through all of her bull and get to the heart of the matter.

Needing some space, she gets out of her seat and walks to the picture window in the office with a perfect view of Toronto. "I broke down," her trembling voice utters.

"With Nick?" Dr. Shute asks scribbling down on the pad in her lap.

"Yeah…," Andy admits sighing deeply. "Sam saw us." She states with her hands around her throat needing to hold onto something.

"And then what?" she asks after several moments of silence from her patient.

"I told him," Andy says, turning away from the view of Toronto with her hands at her hips.

"About Yves?"

"Yes."

* * *

Sam is sitting at his desk lost in thought about Andy with a silly grin on his face. He is running the pad of his index finger across his firm lips when his partner can't keep quiet anymore.

"You've got something on your face," Traci remarks cutting into his thoughts.

He coughs awkwardly before speaking. "Sorry, Nash," Sam apologizes.

"Don't apologize," she waves him off. "It's a pleasure to see." Traci grins at him when Frank enters their office, envelopes in hand.

"Detectives'…," Best greets them.

"What's up Frank?" Sam asks him noticing how their Staff Sergeant is rubbing the back of his neck, which he knows from years of friendship with the man is a nervous tell of Frank's.

"Just wanted to give you these…saves me a couple of stamps." He hands a manila envelope to first Sam and then Traci. Using a nearby letter opener, Sam unfolds what proves to be an invitation to Frank and Noelle's upcoming wedding.

* * *

_**Please celebrate with us  
the freshness of new life  
and new love as we,  
Noelle Williams  
and  
Franklin Best  
exchange wedding vows  
on Friday, the twelfth of June  
two thousand thirteen  
at two o'clock in the afternoon at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church  
73 Simcoe Street 73**_

* * *

"Oh my God, Frank!" Traci exclaims all but jumping out of her seat. "Congratulations," she tells him wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tight.

Noelle and Traci have been friends for the past four years – ever since Noelle had tried to become a mother really. Traci had been a sounding board for the woman, helping her out with her in vitro shots. They had developed a friendship that to this day stood the test.

Sam shakes hands with Frank after Traci has pulled out of her tight embrace with their Staff Sergeant. "You're a lucky man, Boss." He commends him.

"Very true," the husband-to-be responds. "Noelle and Olivia are my world." Frank adds wishing the same fortune to bestow on his friend.

* * *

"_This_ is a huge step for you, Andy," Dr. Shute smiles at her patient.

"It _is_?" she asks dumfounded arching an inquiring eyebrow at the good doctor. She doesn't feel like she's taken any big steps – quite the opposite actually.

"_Yes_, Andy, yes," the doctor tells her. "When you came back from the taskforce you shut down – _completely_. From your friends, your co-workers, and from _Sam_," she says, emphasizing _his_ name.

Andy takes a seat opposite Dr. Shute again inhaling deeply before reciprocating. "I still don't want to be _that_ girl – but I also don't want to miss out on something great because of what happened."

"So, what you're saying here is that you're invested in a relationship with Sam? You want to be with him? Share your experiences with him?"

"_Yeah_, I do," Andy breathes nodding her head.

* * *

_The smell of coffee was what had woken her up the next morning after having told Sam about Yves and the taskforce. _

"_Wake up, sleepyhead," the warmth in Sam's voice urged her, as she rubbed her eyes. _

_When she opened them, she noticed that he was sitting on the surface of the coffee table cradling two mugs of coffee in his hands._

_Sitting up, she tried to rub the crick in her neck away, moving her head side-to-side proved to be a better tactic though. Her couch was anything but good to sleep on, a fact Gail had moaned about back when she had stayed on it._

"_You're a God-sent," Andy yawned accepting the steaming cup of coffee from him. _

"_Can't argue with __**that**__," he quipped earning him a mock glare from her__**.**_

"_Very smooth, Swarek," Andy chastised him before closing her eyes and taking a big gulp of the brown liquid. _

"_How you feeling?" Sam asked placing his mug next to him on the coffee table before leaning forward to maximize their eye contact._

_Cradling the mug between her hands, Andy pulled her bottom lip through her teeth before even contemplating an answer to his question. "Better…I think," she told him quietly. _

"_I'm glad to hear that," Sam told her upon releasing a deep breath. "I want __**this**__ to work, Andy. I want __**us**__ to work." He voiced his hope for them before tucking a wayward curl behind her left ear._

"_So," Andy placed her mug on the table next to Sam's before continuing. "How do we start?" she asked feeling a weird sense of d__éjà vu coming on. _

_They had been __**here**__ once before, and things hadn't really changed for the better. Sure, they had spent time together, but there had always been this wall between them. Like they had both been petrified to let their guards down. _

_But now everything had been stripped down, and Andy wanted to keep that proverbial wall at bay, because keeping it at bay meant being with Sam, and hopefully finding the happiness she had waited for ever since he had pulled up next to her outside the division following the Brennan debacle. _

"_I have __**no**__ idea," Sam smirked with his dimples on full display. "But what I do know is that as long as we're together, we can figure it out…" he reached his hand out to her as a gesture._

"_Together." Andy added with a careful smile placing her hand in his open palm before he closed his hand around hers in a tight squeeze._

* * *

Hours later when Andy is looking through her mail, there's a knock on her door. Sam's isn't due for their impromptu dinner, for at least an hour. He had called her an hour ago, deciding that that dinner he had promised her right before she had left for the taskforce had to happen _tonight_.

So, who she finds on the other side of her door isn't Sam.

It's Claire.

"Mom!" Andy exclaims surprised upon seeing her standing in front of her. They haven't talked for a couple of weeks now, and she knows how Claire feels about Sam and vice versa.

"Don't act so surprised," she smiles brushing past her daughter, shopping bags in hand.

"I'm not, it's just…," Andy closes the door following her into the kitchen. "Did we have plans?" she asks confused.

"Not per se, but considering how long it's been since I've last seen you, I thought a visit was due," Claire explains filling up the cupboards in the kitchen with what she's brought with her.

"It's a nice gesture and all, mom," Andy almost chokes on that word; _mom_. It still feels foreign to her when it escapes her lips. She's spent her teenage years and her early adult years envious of the mother-daughter relationships around her, so it takes some getting used to is all.

"But…?" she prods her daughter sensing there's something more behind that sentence. "Oh my God, you have plans." Claire slaps a hand to her forehead in downright embarrassment. "Traci and Leo? Or maybe Nick?" she asks hopefully. "He seems like a steady guy, Andrea - a new change of scenery perhaps," she adds quirking an eyebrow at Andy.

"I don't _need_ a new change of scenery in _that_ department," she argues knowing that her mother speaking up on behalf of Nick is her way of pushing Sam to the curb.

"Andrea, please…," Claire argues looking at her daughter sternly.

Before leaving for the taskforce, but after her and Sam had broken up, Claire had told Andy about her namesake.

They had met in college where Andrea had been a tomboy from the get-go, not necessarily someone Claire would normally have connected with, but somehow they had found in each other what they had been searching for. They had been inseparable, so when Andrea had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Claire's entire world had closed in on her.

Andrea had shown Claire that being too serious all the time, left no room for living life to its fullest capacity. Therefore on her deathbed, Andy's mother had promised her best friend that if she ever had a little girl she would name her after Andrea.

"_Mom_," Andy stresses the word needing Claire to snap out of her diatribe of Sam. "_I_ love _him_ and _I_ want _him_ in _my_ life." She'd wish she could be as supportive of Sam as her dad is, but she guesses that the past is to blame for that.

Claire's past with Tommy that is.

Andy can't pinpoint when exactly things went south between her parents, she does however remember that their arguments and fights intensified about a year before Claire left them, which is also around the time that Tommy's drinking intensified.

He'd always been up for a beer with one of the guys from work, but nothing like what it had escalated to right before and after her mother had left. Andy has grown to accept and include Claire in her family, and to even call her _mom_, but she can't get past what her disappearance did to Andy, and the impact it still has on her – to this day.

"Andrea…," Claire tries again, but she cuts her off immediately.

"My name is _Andy_," she tells her placing a hand over her heart. "I get that you're not Sam's biggest fan, but he's important to _me_. He's a part of _my_ life, and if you want to have a place in it too, then you need to come to terms with _that_."

Claire clears her throat before speaking. "So, you have forgiven him? For everything he did?"

"We're working our way through it," she tells her fiddling with her watch. "He wasn't the only one at fault. I could've given him his space, and maybe then he wouldn't have felt the need to break up with me."

"You're setting yourself up for a fall, honey," she continues to press on.

Andy scoffs at her before replying. "Maybe, maybe not," she tells her shrugging her shoulders. "But what I _do_ know – the other night I felt the safest I've felt since returning from the taskforce, and Sam did that for me."

* * *

Claire had left shortly after, leaving Andy to pick up the remainder of her self-confidence. She knows she wants to try again with Sam, and she knows it's right, but some support from the woman who'd brought her into this world would've been nice.

But apparently you can't get everything you want in life.

"Everything okay?" Sam asks standing by the kitchen sink, peeler in hand. He chances a look at Andy before resuming his task of peeling the potatoes.

"Yup!" she exclaims snapping the 'p' with her tongue, checking on the roast in the oven.

"Okie-doke," Sam all but whistles.

The minute he had walked across the threshold, he had felt it; the distance that had suddenly come between them. From what little Andy _had_ told him then Claire had stopped by, and things between mother and daughter hadn't exactly ended on a good note.

Walking past him, Andy grabs a carving board and a knife; she begins to chop salad, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

"You _do_ realize that it doesn't matter to me what your mother thinks about me, _us_, right?" Sam asks reaching over to grab a sliced piece of cucumber before popping it into his mouth.

"_Sam_…," she closes her eyes momentarily, stilling her movements with the knife. "I'm fine," Andy vehemently persists.

"Of course you are," he nods his head. He knows that she's trying to play this recent go-around with Claire off as if she's fine with it. But the truth is that he knows that Andy wants her mother's acceptance, _needs_ it. "But just in case you're _not_, then you can talk to me about it, that's all I'm saying," Sam tells her before resuming his task at the sink, peeling the rest of potatoes.

"I appreciate that, but I'm…," Andy starts, but is soon cut off by his voice.

"_Fine_ – yeah I know," Sam smirks at her, reading her like an open book, knowing exactly what she's gonna say, even before she's says it.

"_Yeah_," Andy sighs.

After several minutes of silence, and the tell-tale sound of her chopping the vegetables, Sam can't keep himself from teasing her. "That salad gonna be ready _tonight_, McNally?" he quips with a sideway glance at her, dimples popping out in full force.

"Stow it, Swarek," she teases him right back, popping a piece of pepper into her mouth to prove her point.

* * *

The minute his wife walks through the front door, Greg knows that something has happened. If anything, Claire is an easy read – always has been.

"Where are the girls?" she asks toeing off her boots and dumping her bag in the hallway before joining him on the black leather couch in the living room.

"Come 'ere," he tells her opening his arms up for her. She takes the hint, cuddling up next to him inhaling his scent. "Gracie is at the movies' and Melinda is upstairs," Greg tells his wife.

"That's good," she murmurs plucking a small piece of lint off of Greg's jeans.

"You want to talk about it?" he asks kissing her on the top of her head.

"About what?" Claire asks attempting to brush him off.

"Honey," Greg sighs before continuing. "I love you deeply, but you're not a very convincing liar."

"_No_, I'm not," she agrees looking up at him with a crooked smile on her lips.

"Is it about Andy?"

"Partly," Claire all but whines, burying her face in his neck. "She's giving it another go with Sam."

"So..?" he asks completely confused, his warm breath connecting with Claire's cheek.

"So..?" she parrots him exasperatedly before using her hands against his chest to push away from him. Claire turns disbelieving eyes on her husband and folds her arms in front of her chest – as an armor.

After marrying Greg, she had kept Tommy's last name – not because of _him_, but because of _Andy_. She had wanted to have the same last name as her first-born – in case Andy would ever look for her.

"Honey," he says inching closer to her on the couch. "You need to take a step back, and look at this whole thing rationally."

"Rationally?" she repeats with a sneer.

"Yes," Greg nods his head. "Is there an echo in here?" he quips before grasping Claire's hands in his. "Andy is a grown woman, and you need to let her make her own choices – and respect them."

Her silence tells him, that she knows he's right. She's threading dangerous waters, and if she's not careful she could end up losing Andy all-together.

"So, what do you suggest I do next _Dr._ Keeler?" Claire asks him sarcastically.

He smiles softly at her, finding comfort in the fact that she can joke about his numerous PhD's in psychology at a time like this. "How about having them over for dinner?"

"_Them_?"

"Yup!" Greg pops the 'p' squeezing his hold on her hands. "_Them_," he adds before kissing the tip of her nose.

* * *

"You gonna go?" Sam asks an hour later when they're enjoying the dinner they've cooked together.

"Hmm?" Andy asks confused swallowing the wine she's just taken a sip of.

"Frank and Noelle's wedding – I noticed the invitation hanging on your fridge earlier," he explains nodding his head in that very direction.

"Oh!" she exclaims feeling something weird uncoiling itself in the pit of her stomach. "I don't know yet, _you_?" Andy hates the way her voice just screeched at the _'you'_ in that sentence. She wants to go; she wants to go with _him_.

_Sam_.

"I was planning to, _yeah_…," he smiles at her cutting into the piece of roast on his plate.

_That_ sentence seems to have been the exact wrong thing to say, because next thing Sam knows, her entire face is covered in a frown and she's biting profusely into that bottom lip of hers.

"I see…," Andy sighs nodding her head.

She doesn't know why she's surprised by the fact that he is going.

Of course he would go; he's one of Frank and Noelle's closest friends – so being a part of their wedding seems obvious.

It's not so much _that_ fact that makes Andy's blood boil; it's more the unanswered question as to whether or not he's going with someone else, a _certain_ someone else.

"Hey!" Sam's strong voice cuts into her thoughts making her look at him in utter surprise. "Stop doing _that_," he tells her placing his elbows on the table watching her very carefully.

"Stop doing _what_ exactly?" she asks leaning back in the chair, needing some distance from him all of the sudden.

"Overthinking things…," he reminds her with a crooked eyebrow.

"Who says I am?" Andy asks warily crossing her arms in front of her chest making her body ooze of defensiveness.

"Me," Sam points a finger at himself. "I know you pretty well by now, McNally. You overthink things instead of just riding 'em out."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" she asks.

"If you had let me finish earlier then I would've asked _you_ to go with _me_."

"Oh…," Andy chews on her bottom lip realizing how foolish she has just been. But she can't help it – whenever it comes to him, she gets crazily possessive.

"Oh?" he asks arching a questioningly eyebrow at her. "That's all you've got? I must be losing my touch," Sam mumbles to himself before standing up, and moving to stand in front of her.

"Sam…," she breathes closing her eyes, as the fragrance of his cologne reaches her senses.

He places both of his hands flat on the table and lowers his face to hers before asking her a burning question. "Will you be my date to the wedding, McNally?" Sam's nose nudges at Andy's anticipating her answer.

"Yes…," she whispers right before Sam's firm lips enclose hers in a soft kiss.

* * *

Despite Andy's tenacious attempts to convince Sam to stay the night, he declines.

He wants their date to be their new start.

"Slow and steady, McNally. Slow and steady," he whispers into her ear standing at the door of her condo catching her mouth in a slow but intense kiss that leaves her breathless.

Closing the door after he's left, Andy leans her back against the hard surface getting lost in the memory of his kisses, as she touches her swollen lips with her fingertips.

Walking into the kitchen, her eyes catch sight of her blinking cell lying on the kitchen counter. Pressing a button, she notices that she's received a text from Claire.

* * *

"_**I'm sorry about earlier. Greg and I would like to have the two of you over for dinner sometime next week. Please let me make this up to you.**_

* * *

Andy sinks her teeth into her bottom lip contemplating a reply.

* * *

**A/N2: **Yup! Frank and Noelle's wedding is next! Expect a surprise or two coming your way ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **I'm so sorry for the long wait, but real life got in the way. I have the rest of the story outlined, and if nothing else changes then there'll be four more chapters before this story is complete.

I hope you'll enjoy, and give me some much-needed feedback :)

**Disclaimer:** don't own **Rookie Blue**, **Adele** or anything else mentioned in the story.

* * *

**[X]**

Having added the last bit of eyeliner to her eyes, Andy takes a step back from the mirror above the vanity in her bathroom to study her appearance.

Today is Frank and Noelle's wedding day, so Andy wants to look her very best for their big day, and then of course also because Sam is her date. He is due at her condo within the next ten minutes.

With dark smokey eyes and nude lips Andy has the sultry look down to a tee. Sliding her hands down the thin fabric of her dress, she takes in her entire look. The dress is an Alannah Rose and it fits Andy like a glove. It's grey, strapless, the hem reaches her to the knees and a black bodice is wrapped around her middle. Her feet are in a pair of grey slingback heels that Andy prays she won't stumble over in, and her dark curls are cascading down her back in waves.

Running the tips of her fingers across the bustier of her dress, she can feel the butterflies in her stomach floating about.

Just to see Sam out of his work clothes and in a suit is something that Andy's looking forward to, to _them_ actually being out and about with their friends celebrating.

Hearing a knock on the front door, she immediately knows who it is. Tucking one side of hair behind her ear, Andy grabs her grey clutch and wrap before walking in the direction of where the noise is coming from.

With her fingers wrapped around the door handle, she takes a deep, cleansing breath before pressing it down, and opening the door to a suit-cladded Sam Swarek.

He looks absolutely delicious with his tongue-in-cheek face letting his dark eyes travel up and down Andy's frame. The suit is all but made for him; it's a blue two-piece suit. Underneath it, Sam is wearing a crisp white button-down shirt and around his neck a purple silver-dotted necktie.

"Wauw..," they breathe at the same time.

Andy can't contain a giggle erupting from her lips any more than Sam can contain a full-on smirk from appearing on his delectable face.

"You approve then..?" she asks doing a small twirl in front of him showing off her entire attire.

"Whatever gave you that idea, McNally?" Sam winks at her before taking a step forward and brushing his lips against her warm cheek.

"Thank you." Andy closes her eyes, as she gets lost in the feeling of his lips on her skin. Feeling him retreating from her, she opens her eyes and offers up the same. "You look pretty dapper yourself, _Detective_." She grins before turning on her outrageous high heels and fetching her clutch and wrap that she had left on the arm of the couch before answering the door.

Closing the door behind him, Sam can't take his eyes off of her. He watches, as Andy drapes the wrap around her shoulders, and zips up her clutch before turning inquisitive eyes on him.

"What?" she asks quizzically thinking that she might have something between her teeth with the way Sam is staring at her.

"It's nothing," he says shaking his head trying to shrug off Andy's question, but he should've known that she wouldn't let him get off that easy.

"Come on, Sam." She tells him taking a couple of steps towards him. "We agreed on a new start, remember? And that means no holding back."

"All right..," he blows out a breath. "I just want to make sure that you're really okay with everything. _Us_, I mean. Going together to the wedding," Sam tells her truthfully.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Andy asks raising an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"I just don't want to push or rush you into something that you're not ready for." Sam tells her leaning in to tuck a wayward curl behind her ear.

"You're not." She states matter-of-factly. "Listen, Sam," Andy starts fiddling with the lapels of his jacket to keep her fingers busy. "I'm not saying I'm one-hundred percent myself yet, but I _do_ know that I want _this_, I want _us_." Tilting her head up, she meets his warm gaze, and smiles big up at him.

"All right..," Sam nods his head smiling back at her before offering her his arm. Linking her arm through his, they make their way out of Andy's condo and to Frank and Noelle's wedding.

* * *

The wedding had been beautiful – Noelle had looked beautiful in her dress, Frank handsome in his suit and Olivia had been beyond cute in her little pink dress. Traci had acted as Noelle's maid of honor, holding Olivia in her arms throughout the ceremony, while Oliver had acted as Frank's best man.

The rest of the Division and their friends had also been present, and witnessed Frank and Noelle tie the proverbial knot. It had been a cathartic event for Andy to see two people, who had loved each other for so long, finally being able to celebrate their love with the people they loved.

Sam and Andy had been sitting in a pew next to Marlo and a woman by the name of – believe it or not – Celery. Andy's eyes had nearly popped out of her head watching Cruz put a hand on the other woman's knee, squeezing tightly. Sam hadn't even blinked at the endearment between the two women, which made Andy realize that he of course had known all along. She actually cringed at the fact that she'd been jealous of Marlo and her budding relationship with Sam – how wrong had she been – they were really _just_ friends.

However what Sam _had_ been surprised about had been to see that Andy had known when to stand up, when to sit and when to fold her hands during the ceremony. At one point she had even caught him staring and she had quietly muttered, "Irish Catholic, _Detective_."

By the time the priest had begun reciting _Corinthians Chapter 13_, Sam had felt her hand grasping his, and squeezing tight. Her breathing had picked up, and her hands had been a bit moist. Andy's eyes had been staring straight ahead at the sight of Frank and Noelle standing opposite each other, gazing into each other's loving eyes, as the words had drifted across the entire congregation.

Sam had smiled to himself letting his eyes travel to the forms of Frank and Noelle too, but letting the pad of his thumb rub a familiar pattern across Andy's knuckles as the words of love had given him hope for the future.

_Their_ future.

* * *

After having eaten a three course meal at the wedding reception, the guests are mingling with each other playing catch-up.

"Stop pestering her, Leo," Traci berates her son, who has for the past ten minutes been firing questions at Andy about why she and Sam aren't together-together yet.

"I am _not_." He maintains from his perch on Andy's lap.

"You are a little bit, Little Man," Gail joins in. She and Traci had noticed Andy's labored breathing when Leo had asked her why she isn't living with his Uncle Sam yet.

"It just isn't fair!" he grumbles pouting in true Leo Nash fashion with his arms folded across his chest and his lower lip curled into a scowl.

"We may not be together-together," Andy starts on a deep exhale. "But we are working our way through everything." Her words cause all three heads to snap up immediately, Leo having turned around to face her in her lap.

"Seriously?" he beams at her with eyes as big as saucers.

Andy nods her head slowly, wondering why Leo is so set on her and Sam being together. There has to be more behind it than just her and Sam being happy.

"Oh riiiiiiiiiiight..," Gail pipes up drawling the word out purposely catching onto Leo's game.

"What?" Andy asks confused looking between Leo and Gail for answers.

"A couple of months before you returned from the taskforce, Sam had mentioned getting a dog. A labra-something-or-other I think." Gail explains.

"Oh yes, the infamous Boo Radley," Traci says eying her silent son. "Leo..," she admonishes him.

"What..?" he asks shrugging his small shoulders all innocently.

"So, let me get this straight..," Andy turns Leo around on her lap, so that he's sitting sideways with his legs dangling across her legs. "You want Sam and me to get back together, hoping that it'll cause us to get a dog?" she asks biting down on her lower lip trying to contain a giggle from erupting from her mouth.

"I don't know..," he evades her question. "It would just be so cool to have a dog in the family is all..," he figures evading looking Andy in the eyes.

"I see..," Andy kisses Leo on the top of his head when they both catch sight of Sam nursing a tumbler of scotch by the far side of the room standing next to Oliver. "All I can tell you is that we still care about each other very much, and if anything happens between us, you'll be the first to know. Okay?"

"Okay..," Leo sighs dispassionately, while Traci and Gail look on with inquisitive eyes.

* * *

"So, what's new, brother?" Oliver wants to know after Sam's eyes have been locked on Andy's form holding Leo close for the past ten minutes.

"With..?" Sam asks regretfully dragging his eyes off of Andy and Leo and turning them to his friend instead.

Oliver shakes his head before pointing his glass of scotch in the direction of Leo who is now dragging McNally onto the dance floor, while Peck and Nash are egging them on.

Sam can't contain his smile from gracing his lips watching Andy twirl Leo around on the dance floor – both of them laughing brightly.

"Things are good then?" Oliver suggests smirking at the sight of his friend watching the woman he loves dancing with Nash' kid.

"What is it to you?" he asks.

"Come on..," Oliver drawls. "The two of you have been in love for years now." He says. "You spent six months moping around, while Andy was away on the taskforce, but ever since she returned something has changed with you. Something good," Oliver winks meaningfully at his friend.

At that precise moment Andy catches sight of Sam from the dance floor, and waves at him with a bright smile adorning her lips right when Leo's busting a move – undoubtedly a move Jerry taught him. Sam holds his glass of scotch up in salute with his dimples on full display.

"We're good, Shaw," he finally pipes up. "We're taking it slow though, Andy's been through enough, and the last thing that I want to do is to crowd her or to scare her away."

"I get that, I do," Oliver tells him with a certain amount of uncertainty in his tone of voice.

"But..?" Sam drawls out the word having a feeling that Shaw has more to say.

"But…waiting too long can have the very opposite effect of what you're trying to accomplish here, brother." Oliver tells him with an arched eyebrow.

"So, Dr. Phil," he quips turning his body sideways to look at his friend. "What do you suggest I do?" Sam asks. Despite the levity in his voice then he wants Oliver's advice because he's doing cartwheels on his own – wanting to move forward with Andy, but being careful with her – all at the same time.

Oliver looks at him like Sam has just told him that the world is flat. "You're at a wedding, Sammy. There's a dance floor, where Andy just so happens to be standing on," he claps Sam on the back before pointing his now empty tumbler of scotch in Andy's direction. "You figure out the rest," Oliver whistles turning on his heel to get a refill at the bar.

Sam pinches the bridge of his nose at the prospect of towing his uncoordinated body out onto a dance floor. He may be able to run down a perpetrator, but when it comes to dancing he might as well have two left feet.

But all of that evaporates the second his eyes meets Andy's again, who is now standing on the dance floor minus one Leo Nash. Her smile slowly curls into a full-blown smirk that goes straight to his gut, and suddenly Sam finds himself walking towards her – in confident strides.

* * *

Sam comes to an abrupt halt in front of Andy – the two of them standing in the middle of the crowded dance floor – just gazing into each other's eyes.

Holding his hand out to her – palm side up – Sam asks her a question that she never in a million years had imagined he'd ask. "You wanna dance?"

The surprise is evident on Andy's face right before her lips curl into a smile again. "Sure," she tells him, placing her hand in Sam's before letting him envelop her in his arms.

The soulful voice of Adele begins to sound from the speakers that are set up around the dance floor. Sam has one arm wrapped around Andy's waist, while the other is holding her hand within his against his chest – right above his heart.

Their bodies move together like all they've ever done is dance – despite the fact that this is their very first time. Andy has her head nestled underneath Sam's chin, and the hand that's not held against his beating heart is rubbing up and down his other arm in a soothing motion.

"This is nice..," she sighs closing her eyes enjoying the intimate moment between them that has been a long time coming.

"Yeah..," Sam agrees pressing a kiss against the crown of her head. "I never thought I'd find myself standing in the middle of a dance floor with a beautiful woman in my arms," he attempts to joke.

Andy pulls back slightly to look into his eyes. "Oh, really?" she asks arching a perfectly plucked brow at him.

"It's nice though," he admits. "Very nice," Sam uses his thumb to rub her knuckles.

"I love to dance," Andy tells him tucking her head underneath his chin again.

"Yeah..?" Sam asks pressing his lips against her hair. "Attended a lot of dance recitals in your formative years, McNally?"

Scoffing she shakes her head slightly keeping it tucked underneath his jaw. "Dad was pretty far gone by then," sadness creeps into Andy's voice, and subconsciously Sam tightens his hold on her. "But I used to watch dance shows on TV, and I don't know..," she shrugs her shoulders infinitesimally before continuing. "I guess watching them made it possible for me to escape from my own life – even if it was just for a little while."

"Do you still feel like that?" Sam asks cupping her face in his hands. "That you need something that distracts you from your life?" he adds staring into her brown pools.

Reaching up Andy covers Sam's hands with her own, shaking her head. "Not anymore, no," she tells him truthfully.

The weight that has been lifted off of her is something that Andy can't even put into words. Standing completely still on the crowded dance floor, she feels like everything is starting to come full circle for her, for Sam, for _them_.

"Good," leaning in, Sam nudges his nose at Andy's before pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

As the next song molds into the previous one, she curls her arms around his neck moving into the kiss, opening her mouth and granting him access to the recesses of her soul.

* * *

"What's going on with you?" Noelle asks a somber but emotionally spent Oliver, whose eyes have been glued to Sam and Andy's forms on the dance floor for the past couple of minutes.

Unable to get his lips to move with all the feelings he's experiencing, Oliver merely indicates the pair of dancing forms with a shake of his wrist before finally managing to utter a small sentence despite his emotional state. "Those crazy kids finally got it together."

Clapping Oliver on his suit-cladded back Frank chimes in. "Took 'em long enough."

"As long as Sammy's happy, then I'm happy." Noelle adds, while Oliver manages to wipe his eyes and pull himself together. They all watch mesmerized as Sam dips Andy before pulling a giggling McNally back into his warm embrace.

"What's going on over here?" Nick asks, as he and Gail join the threesome by the bar.

"Look!" Oliver manages flailing an arm at the dance floor where Sam now has his forehead pressed against Andy's – their bodies wrapped tightly together on the packed dance floor.

"Geesh, Shaw!" Gail exclaims not understanding what all the fuss is about. "They're just dancing."

And that is the exact wrong thing to say, because next thing Oliver is throwing daggers at Gail letting her know in no uncertain terms that Sam Swarek dancing on a packed dance floor is no little feat, and that the fact that McNally managed to canoodle a dance out of him is a testament of their love.

"Alright..," Peck backs off holding both hands up in surrender. "They do look very cute," she admits. "And to think..," Gail continues when Sam presses a kiss against Andy's forehead. "It only took them what..?" she shrugs for dramatic effect. "Four years to get their proverbial heads screwed on straight."

"Well, _I_ knew it from the get-go," Oliver states crossing his arms in front of his chest matter-of-factly.

"No, you did not!" Noelle challenges him shaking her head at him. "You were just as convinced as the rest of us that they were over for good."

"Please..," he whistles at her. "Had no doubt in my mind." He vehemently states.

"Right..," Noelle drawls out. "So, that's why you helped Sammy create a dating profile?" the look on Oliver's face is priceless as he looks from Noelle and to her husband with a clear look of surprise on his face.

"Dude! You told her?" Oliver turns shocked eyes on Frank as if the guy has just told him that there's no more food or booze left.

"Dude!" Frank mocks his friend wrapping his arms around Noelle's shoulders from behind. "I'm already a kept man, what can I say..?" he shrugs his shoulders unapologetically kissing his wife on the cheek.

"I think you mean..," Oliver makes a motion with his hand as if he's holding a crop in his hand and makes a whipping sound with his lips.

While Noelle looks chagrined, Frank merely holds his wife of five hours tightly to his chest before saying, "And enjoying every minute of it."

"Oh please, you're killing me with the sweetness over here!" Gail all but makes a gagging sound before hauling Nick onto the dance floor with her.

* * *

An hour later they stumble into Andy's condo, toeing off their shoes right after Sam has slammed the front door shut with the sole of his foot.

"You sure about this?" he asks in-between passionate kisses en route to her bedroom creating a trail of fabric as they go.

"Absolutely," she gasps right before he grasps her thighs helping Andy climb his body. Framing Sam's face with her hands, she gazes into his eyes seeing him and who he really is for what seems like the first time. "Never been surer of anything than I am right this minute. I want this, Sam. I want _us_."

The crinkles at his eyes and the indentations in his cheeks are on full display, as Sam takes in what Andy has just told him. Their lips meet in a sizzling kiss that makes him stagger slightly before resuming his composure, walking them into the bedroom.

* * *

Standing behind her, Sam's lips are velvety soft as they trace over Andy's olive skin. Her dress has been carelessly thrown in the vicinity of that damn chaise as well as his necktie and shirt.

Moaning, Andy leans back against his warm chest – feeling the sprinkles of his chest hairs tickle her back – making her feel safe.

"You like that?" Sam hums against her skin unclasping the white lacey strapless bra that Andy has sported throughout the day.

"Mmm..," she moans tilting her head slightly to make him continue his kisses on her opposite shoulder, as the material of her bra floats to the floor.

"Good to know I haven't lost my touch," he tries to quip despite the passionate haze that they're in. It's different _this_ time though, they rushed things before, but tonight they'll take it slow, and cherish each other's bodies.

Turning around in his arms, Andy angles her head up showing off her darkened eyes and flushed cheeks. "Never." She whispers before stepping up on the tips of her toes, grabbing his face and crashing their lips together in a warm kiss.

Not able to withstand not feeling every inch of her naked skin against his, Sam pulls her against him the last inch and proceeds to grasp her thighs and lift her off of the floor. Knowing each step of their dance, Andy wraps her legs around his burly waist, while Sam supports her body against his with one hand against the nape of her neck and the other underneath her butt.

Walking towards the bed, their tongues slant against each other, and for several hours the only sounds that can be heard within Andy's bedroom are noises of pleasure and serenity.

* * *

Several hours later, they are lying on their sides, their bodies covered by a white sheet as they gaze into each other's eyes.

"How do you feel?" Sam asks tucking a piece of hair behind Andy's ear.

She can't contain the smile that's spreading across her lips. "Really good, better than I have in a really long time."

"Well..," he sighs dramatically turning on his back and tucking both arms underneath his head making his muscles bulge. "I do try." Sam grins broadly at her – dimples on full display.

"Rascal!" Andy playfully hits him with a pillow before letting Sam haul her against his side throwing the pillow onto the floor.

"Seriously though..," he clears his throat tracing the slope of her spine with his fingers. "You okay?" Sam continues to prod.

"Mmm..," Andy simply nods her head tracing a finger across the indentation of his abs. "I finally feel..," she suddenly stops, propping herself up on an elbow turning soft eyes on Sam.

"What is it, sweetheart?" he asks running his knuckles across her cheek.

"Home," she smiles at him. "I finally feel like I'm _home_," leaning into Sam she presses a soft kiss against his lips.

"You are." He grins at her before pulling her down onto his chest again, tucking her head underneath his chin.

"This feels nice..," Andy sighs dreamily letting Sam's warmth engulf her.

"Yeah..," he breathes heavily. "You gonna be here in the morning, McNally?" Sam asks unable to shake the memory of waking up without her a while back.

Knowing exactly what he means, Andy tilts her head slightly to press a kiss against his jaw before reciprocating. "I'm where I belong."

Exhaling a deep breath, Sam can't help but feel elation at her words. "No turning back?" he asks feeling Andy make herself comfortable on his chest again.

"Nope."

* * *

**A/N2: **How will Sam handle dinner with his mother-in-law? That's up next ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Thank you for all the wonderful replies :) it means a lot.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own **Rookie Blue**.

* * *

**[XI]**

So, the first step in getting back into your would-be mother-in-law's good graces is apparently to attend a family dinner. This is why Sam is standing in the locker room, a late afternoon buttoning up a black shirt to go along with his black jeans.

Oliver is smirking at him from a couple of locker's down.

"Stow it!" Sam warns pointing an accusatory finger in his friend's direction. Shaw can't contain the grin on his face, and it doesn't take long before he bursts into a laughing fit.

"I'm sorry, brother," he manages after the laughter has somewhat died down. "But just the prospect of you; Sam Swarek readying himself for dinner with the in-law's is…"

"Laughable?" he cuts in with a quirked eyebrow, unbuttoning the three top buttons of his shirt that he's just finished buttoning.

"Nah," Ollie shakes his head. "About damn time!" he claps Sam on the back reassuringly before heading towards the door.

"Any words of encouragement before I walk into the lion's den?" he asks before Oliver disappears out the door.

"Just be yourself," he shrugs his shoulders before closing the door after him.

"Yeah," Sam sighs. "That's what I was afraid you'd say," he rolls his eyes before grabbing his leather jacket, and heading towards the truck to meet up with Andy.

* * *

In the women's locker room the tension is just as thick seeing as Andy is just as nervous as Sam about spending the evening with Claire and Greg.

"You alright?" Traci finally asks her friend.

"Of course – why wouldn't I be?" Andy asks feeling fifty shades of perplexed.

"Because you're doing _that_ thing with your hair that you only do when you're nervous," she points out.

Instinctively Andy uncurls her hair from around her finger looking utterly defeated that she's so easy to read.

"We're going to dinner at my mom's," she finally decides to step up to the proverbial plate.

"_We_," Traci gasps mouth agape from pure shock. "As in you and Sam?" Traci asks.

"_No_, me and Prince Harry – of course me and Sam!" Andy snaps. "Sorry," she mutters underneath her breath at the stricken look on Traci's face.

It isn't Traci's fault that things are so tense between Andy's mother and Sam, and they have been ever since Claire resurfaced in Andy's life. And it isn't that she doesn't understand his reservations regarding her mother, but she is still her mother and Andy would just love it if they could try and get along – at least for however long this dinner will last.

"It's okay," she says. "But it does explain a lot," Traci tells Andy. Sam had been beside himself today – very uncharacteristically him. "Andy, it'll be okay," she tries to reassure her friend. "Just take it slow, and try to focus on safe topics of conversation," Traci suggests. "Like your job, your condo, cooking," she suggests at Andy's bewildered expression at the term; _safe_ topics.

"Thanks, Trace," she nods her head before turning to her friend with the million dollar question, "How do I look?" Andy asks turning in a full circle showing off her attire. She's wearing a pair of jeans and a sleeveless blue shirt as well as a pair of black high heeled sandals.

"You look great," Traci muses earning her a grateful smile from Andy.

"Thanks," she says gathering her hair in a ponytail before tucking it into a bun on the back of her head with the aid of a silver hair clip.

"Well, I have to go and pick up Leo," Traci informs her heading to the door. "Just remember one thing though," she asks turning around in the open doorway.

"What's that?" Andy asks watching her friend with narrowed eyes.

"Have a good time!" Traci exclaims before disappearing out the door.

"Easy for you to say," Andy mutters under her breath before shutting her locker and heading out to the parking lot.

* * *

"Just remember to be nice," Greg admonishes his wife standing in their kitchen. Claire is tossing the salad and he is opening a bottle of Merlot.

"What do you mean?" she asks offended. "I am _always_ nice," she adds.

"Yeah, right," he scoffs under his breath rolling his eyes.

"And what exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?" Claire asks with her hands placed on her hips.

"Sweetheart," Greg begins placing his hands on her shoulders. "I know you want to protect your daughter, but…"

"Don't _but_ me on this, Greg!" she snaps grabbing the salad bowl and carrying it into the living room to place it on the dining table.

He follows her into the living room watching as his wife refolds a napkin to keep her twitching fingers occupied.

"I know that you may not want to hear this," Greg says picking up their conversation. "But Andy is a grown woman, who has a mind of her own," he attempts to tell her, but she cuts him off bluntly saying,

"I know that," but Greg continues on not letting her deteriorate his ministrations.

"And _that_ includes who she chooses to embark on a relationship with," he tells her with raised eyebrows. The fact that they came together at the expense of Tommy and Andy is still a sore spot in their relationship – not to mention their family life.

"Sam is _all_ wrong for her," Claire persists vehemently.

"He's a man who had a tough year last year," Greg retorts all too well remembering the mother-daughter conversations between the two of them that he has unwillingly walked in on.

"And _that_ makes what he did to Andy okay?" Claire asks outraged.

"Of course not! But constantly comparing him to Tommy won't do any of you any good – least of all Andy."

"Greg, that's _not_ what I'm doing!" she snaps irately at him.

"Isn't it?" Greg asks pointedly folding his arms across his chest.

To say that Greg's very few conversations with Tommy McNally have been strained would be putting it mildly. The fact that he tore apart the McNally household has always been Tommy's stand point, but after all this time Greg is done feeling guilty about having fallen in love with Claire. He's certainly not proud about how it happened, or the consequences it had, but he stopped feeling guilty about it a while back.

But that doesn't translate into him letting Claire destroy what little relationship she has now with Andy. This is Greg's first time meeting Sam, but with what little he does know about him – he seems like a good man – and not a Tommy redux.

* * *

"You okay?" Sam asks after having killed the engine of the truck. They are parked in front of Greg and Claire's townhouse. The ride over has been extremely quiet, and the tension in the truck has only grown since he pulled the truck out of the parking lot at work.

"Uh-huh," she nods her head tentatively pressing her front teeth into her lower lip letting her gaze take in the suburban neighborhood they're parked in.

"Hey," he uses his fingers to tilt her chin, so she's looking him in the eyes. "What are you thinking about?" Sam asks.

"I don't know just..," Andy sighs letting her eyes take in the setting that they're in now. A place that she only dared to dream about growing up. Having grown up in that small apartment of Tommy's hadn't really left much room for dreams, but Andy had had him and that had been enough. But being about to walk into one of those homes from her dreams is a big thing, and the fact that the children that Claire _had_ chosen had had _this_ growing up doesn't exactly inspire Andy to be charitable towards them.

It's probably a good thing that the girls' are off on camp, and that it'll just be Claire, Greg and her and Sam eating dinner tonight.

"Just what..?" he inquires urging her to open her eyes. "Andy?"

"Yeah..?" her broken voice replies. Tears are shimmering in her eyes once those brown pools are looking back at Sam's.

"Hey, hey, hey…what's with the tears?" his soft voice wants to know using the pad of his thumb to brush away a lonely tear cascading down her cheek.

"Things have been going really well lately," she says on a deep breath sniffing.

Furrowing his forehead Sam poses the most obvious question. "Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Yeah..," Andy sighs leaning back into the leather seat of the truck. "You and my mom aren't exactly best friends, Sam."

He can't keep a smirk from appearing on his lips from that statement. "No, we're not. But we do have one thing in common," Sam offers up.

"What's that?" Andy asks turning her head to face him with a questioning look in her eyes.

"You," he answers with a warm smile.

Andy's lips twist into a careful smile and her eyes warm up at his soothing words. It seems that lately whenever her mood has been just a little off Sam has known just what to say or has had some corny joke ready that had made her laugh.

"Good," he smiles before leaning in, and pressing his lips against hers in a soft caress. "You ready?" he murmurs against her lips.

"Yes," she nods her head before exiting the truck. Waiting for Sam to round the truck, she entwines her fingers with his before they walk together to the front door of Greg and Claire's house.

* * *

"Dinner was great, Claire," Sam compliments their hostess – good manners and all – despite his wobbly relationship with her.

"Thank you, Sam," she mutters avoiding eye contact with him. When Greg gives her a stern look, she lifts her eyes to Sam's from across the table. "It was a new recipe," she reveals.

"So, how are the girls?" Andy asks, while simultaneously squeezing Sam's knee under the table.

Gracie and Melinda seem to be as much as a safe topic as anything can be. Andy's two younger step-sisters are respectively nine and eleven years old. They are not home at the moment due to a school camp, but they immediately warmed up at the prospect of gaining a big sister.

"They're good, great," Greg says when Claire doesn't answer Andy's question, but keeps her eyes trained on Sam.

"So, Sam," Claire starts making both Greg and Andy hold their breaths in anticipation of her next words. "What are your intentions?" she asks perching her chin on her folded hands making her daughter cringe.

"Mom…," Andy warns throwing daggers at her.

"Claire, maybe this isn't…," Greg begins, but Sam holds them both off with a raised hand.

"I get where you're coming from, Claire, and I get it. You're just looking out for your daughter," Sam admits turning in his seat to look at Andy, while also curling an arm around the back of her chair.

"Someone has to," she snidely remarks causing Andy to roll her eyes at her audacity to even speak those words. It isn't that long ago that Sam had been trying to protect Andy from being hurt from Claire's reappearance in her life.

"Mom, enough!" Andy seethes through clenched teeth feeling that what little control she's had on her temper is fading away.

"Andy, it's fine," Sam assures her wrapping his hand around Andy's, laying on top of the table.

"No, it isn't, Sam. I really isn't," Greg argues – clearly not at ease with the animosity Claire seems adamant at casting upon him.

"I treated Andy badly, I did," Sam acknowledges turning in his seat to look into Andy's eyes again. "But _almost_ losing her, _almost_ losing what we have – has made me see things in a different light." Turning to face Claire again, he speaks his next words clearly. "_I_ love _her_."

"Strong words, Sam," Claire remarks from across the table.

"Mom, _please_ – can't we just cease fire and focus on the future instead of digging out the past?" Andy asks in a pleading tone of voice.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Greg inserts wrapping an arm around Claire's rigid back.

"Sure," she agrees. "_If_ this is really what _you_ want," she adds speaking directly to Andy and ignoring both men.

"It _is_," Andy turns to Sam and smiles, and he affectionately tucks a couple of tendrils of hair behind her ear making her close her eyes at the endearment.

"_This_ calls for dessert, eh?" Greg suggests, as he motions for Andy to help him out in the kitchen.

* * *

Once in the kitchen Andy starts rinsing off the plates and cutlery before placing it in the dishwasher, while Greg opens the freezer to retrieve the homemade ice cream that his wife is somewhat of an expert at making.

"Don't worry," Greg tries to comfort Andy after she's finished loading the dishwasher. Her uneasiness at having left Claire and Sam alone in the living room is tangible. "If he didn't leave during the Spanish inquisition then there's no way she'll be able to scare him off now," Greg adds with a wink.

"Thanks," she smiles at him for the gentle way he's trying to make Andy feel more at ease.

Grabbing bowls for dessert, spoons and of course the dessert itself she and Greg make their way into the living room again.

Sam and Claire are still sitting opposite each other talking about his Detectives' job and the differences it bears from working the streets. Andy doesn't know what she expected to walk in on, but them having a simple conversation hadn't been it.

Once she and Greg sit back down at the table to eat dessert, Andy leans in and whispers in Sam's ear, "You still here?" he scoffs before pressing his lips against her temple.

"Won't get rid of me _that_ easy, McNally," he grins. "Although, I think Brennan could pick up some pointers from your mom," Sam jokes as Andy rolls her eyes at his dig at Claire.

* * *

"Thank you for dinner, mom," Andy hugs Claire awkwardly – still reeling from her harsh words to Sam.

"I'm just looking out for you," she tells Andy feeling the tension surrounding them.

"You don't have to do that," Andy tries to tell her mother.

"We'll see," Claire sighs, as they step out of their embrace.

"Keep hanging in there," Greg claps Sam on his back eliciting a surprised smirk on Sam's face.

"Will do, take care," he bids them both farewell, as he and Andy head to the truck.

"He's a good man," Greg says placing his hands on Claire's shoulders from behind, them both watching Sam helping Andy into the passenger seat of the truck.

"We'll see," Claire repeats her earlier words, as she remembers what she told Sam, while Greg and Andy had been out of the room.

* * *

"_You hurt her again, and I'll make sure you'll live to regret it," Claire had warned him._

"_Wouldn't expect any less," Sam had shrugged._

* * *

Before getting behind the wheel, Sam shares a knowing glance with Claire before she and Greg head inside the house.

* * *

"Sam!" Andy shrieks when he uses the tip of his tongue to trace the letters of her tattoo. He has a definite thing for it - is constantly doing something wickedly around that precise area of her anatomy every time he's got her naked beneath him.

"Shh…you'll wake the neighbors..," he grins wickedly into her skin before sucking at her olive skin making Andy squeal with delight.

He loves this side of her – the carefree side of her that he hasn't seen come out for quite a while. It's _this_ Andy that he has missed ever since she came back from the taskforce. The one, who can put her worries aside and focus in on the two of them.

"You like it?" Andy suddenly asks, and he's momentarily hit by confusion until his eyes feast upon the tattoo he's been tracing with his tongue for the past ten minutes.

"I love it, McNally," he tells her honestly. "Never would have pegged you for the kind of girl, who wanted ink on your skin though." He admits propping himself up on one elbow, using the fingers of the other hand to trace across the black words etched into Andy's skin for all eternity.

"I know me either," she confesses loving the feel of Sam's fingers touching her tattoo. "A lot of stuff went down in those six months, and I guess..," Andy shrugs her shoulders slightly before continuing feeling Sam's eyes on her face. "I guess I needed to remember who _Andy _was, and not just _Candace_."

"Makes sense," Sam nods his head diverting his gaze to her tattoo again. "It's a poem?"

"Yeah," Andy tells him. "It's always been a favorite of mine, and I guess it just spoke to me with everything that was going on at the time."

"I love it." Sam repeats his earlier words, as she threads her fingers through his thick hair. Andy tilts his head up dragging his eyes away from her ink for a short amount of time.

"It's _your_ fault anyways," she informs him with a soft smile making Sam frown.

"What is?" he asks quirking an inquisitive brow at her.

"The tattoo," she tells him. "Always had a thing for yours, _Detective,_" Andy declares letting a smirking Sam roll them over, so that she's pressed against his left side.

"Oh, really?" he retorts with raised eyebrows.

"Uh-huh..," Andy props herself up on an elbow, nodding her head. Letting the pad of her index finger trace across the three letters of Sam's tattoo, she asks him a silent question.

_**L U C**_

"My dad."

Those two words carry so much meaning seeing as Sam has never mentioned either of his parents to Andy before. Only Sarah that one time, and then mentioned his family in passing after she had dragged him out of bed the night of her dad's birthday.

Leaning in, Andy brushes her lips against the tattoo before asking him if he wants to talk about it. After everything he has done for her since her return, she wants to return the favor, but at the same time she doesn't want to push him into anything either.

"What I told you in the cover apartment…about JD..," Sam begins swallowing audibly before continuing. "That was really _my_ story."

Closing his eyes he waits for Andy to say something, but when nothing comes out of her mouth, Sam opens his eyes again and turns his head on the pillow to look into her eyes.

"What?" she asks fingering his slightly stubble chin to keep her fingers occupied.

"You're awfully quiet," he comments.

"I'm not gonna push you, Sam. But if you want to tell me about him, I'm here to listen." Andy tells him knowing that he's not one to open up easily. After all, it took him a good three years to tell her that he loved her, and even then it had been caused by the fact that Andy had been holding a bomb in her hands at the time.

"I've only seen him a handful of times," he starts grasping the hand that she has had on his chin and enveloping it in his. Sam brings it up to his lips for a tender kiss before continuing. "The last time was right before I went under, so that makes it more than five years ago now," he says placing their entangled fingers on his chest.

"He must be very proud of you," Andy muses seriously and is taken aback when suddenly Sam's chest vibrates with laughter. Feeling affronted, Andy peers down at him with narrowed eyes. "Are _you_ laughing at _me_?" she asks unable to keep a small smile from appearing on her lips.

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart..," he smirks at her gaining some control over his laughter before kissing her temple. "But to hear you say that a career criminal should be proud of _me_," Sam indicates himself with a flick of his thumb, "Is just..,"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..," Andy huffs out a breath before flopping down next to him on her pillow. "I just meant..," she tries a few minutes later once Sam's laughter has died down.

"I know what you meant," he tells her seriously now leaning over to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. "He's just always been an enigma to me," Sam admits keeping their hands entwined, while they're lying on their backs staring into the ceiling.

"How long is he in for?" Andy asks turning on her side to look at Sam's profile.

He shrugs his shoulders at her question, but keeps his eyes trained on the ceiling. "I've always been told that if I wanted to see him, it would have to take place in there, so..," Sam draws a deep breath letting the words linger in the darkened room.

"You ever think about visiting him again?" Andy asks softly.

"Sometimes, yeah I do," he admits tightening his hold on her hand in his. "But then I think about everything Sarah and I lost because of him, and the feeling goes away."

"But his name is Luc?" Andy asks hating the way that Sam has turned somber on her. She wants the levity in his voice back that had been there before broaching the subject of his tattoo.

"Yeah..," he turns on his side mimicking Andy's position bringing their tangled hands up in-between their bodies. "But getting back to the tattoo," Sam smirks at her with warm eyes. "I wanted his name there because I wanted a reminder of never taking the easy way out, because that's what he's always done. And I guess also because even though I don't talk about him, he'd be with me regardless."

"You really missed him growing up," she doesn't pose it as a question because it's a statement of fact.

"Yes, I did." Sam admits pressing a kiss against the knuckles of her hand. "He wasn't there on a lot of the occasions that I'm now there for Leo. I mean, I know it's not the same and that Dex is in fact his father, but I made a promise to Jerry, and well I'm pretty intent on keeping my promises from now on."

Those words go straight to Andy's heart. Sam may seem like a man, who has it all together and that nothing faces him. But the absence of his father in his life has scarred him, maybe more than Sam even realizes.

"Is that why you've never had kids?" she asks out of the blue, and finds herself as shocked by her question as Sam seems to be with his raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that if you..," Andy starts to tell him.

"It was a combination of things really," he says honestly. "There was my dad, yes. But also I've never found a woman I could see that kind of a future with..," Sam stops shortly of continuing his sentence noting the look of surprise on Andy's face. "That is until now."

"Really?" she asks.

"Really," Sam states brushing his lips against Andy's in a gesture of comfort and love. Untangling their hands, he wraps his arms around her body and rolls them over to coat Andy's body with his own.

"Sam..," Andy breathes when he nudges at her nose with his – a move that is so uniquely _them_.

"What?" he asks brushing his lips ever so lightly over her lips - just feeling the structure of them.

"I love you," she tells him with a soft smile.

Sam can't keep a grin from appearing on his lips, a grin that Andy can feel against her lips. "I love you too, Andy. I do."

"Thanks for putting up with my mother tonight," she presses her lips against his giving him a long kiss that speaks of love and trust.

"Thanks for listening," Sam tells her before thrusting his tongue into her mouth letting them both get lost in the closeness they have finally acquired.

* * *

**A/N2: **I realize my take on Sam's tattoo is a little different, but felt it important to incorporate a little of his family as well as a parallel to the evening they've just spent at Claire and Greg's.

Next up: Sam decides to make good on one of his promises to Andy and they visit a pound ;)


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **Thanks for all the continued feedback :) it means a lot.

This chapter has a little of both worlds - angst as well as fluffiness - I hope you'll enjoy it and please drop me a line, so I'll know what you think of it :)

* * *

**[XII]**

"You ready, dude?" Andy asks Leo turning around in her seat to look at her honorary nephew. He has been having a tough time the past couple of weeks since the one-year anniversary of Jerry's death has been approaching fast.

"Uh-huh," he nods his head solemnly looking out the window lost in thought. Sam squeezes Andy's denim-clad knee before exiting the truck to give the two of them a moment alone.

"Dude…" Andy draws out the 'u' knowing from Traci that things have been anything but ideal at home lately. She had taken Leo camping a couple of days ago, and the impromptu trip had worked wonders, but when the day-to-day stuff had picked up, things had resumed to its normal pace again. Leo has withdrawn himself from his friends and family, and most days it takes an act of God to get him to leave the confines of his room.

In the meantime things have only picked up between Sam and Andy. They have begun to actually listen to each other, and to give each other space when it's needed, but not too much at the same time. Sam walks her to the locker room when she needs to change for her shift, waits for her at his truck every night – even when they don't work the same shifts. They walk into _'The Penny'_ hand-in-hand, and are openly attentive to each other with the occasional hug and plenty of tender kisses.

The question of Andy giving up her condo to move into Sam's house has also come up, and his arguments have been well justified. She's just not quite _there_ yet, and it's not that she doesn't love Sam because she does. But Andy doesn't want to run the risk of moving too fast and plummeting to the ground with a crash.

So, in terms of moving forward without calling the movers, they have decided to get a dog. Originally they had decided on a Labradoodle – the very description of the breed had spoken to both of them. But after having heard from Traci how desolate Leo has been lately, Andy has been desperate to find some way to pull him out of his sadness.

* * *

_Andy had been standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom after a late night at __**'The Penny'**__ drying her face with a towel after having washed her face. Dipping a finger into her face cream, she applied some to her face when Sam had walked up behind her._

_Having noticed her less than chipper mood at the bar, he placed his head on the shoulder looking at their reflection in the mirror. _

"_What's up McNally?" Sam asked wrapping his arms around her waist nuzzling into her neck._

_She shouldn't have been surprised that he would know something was up with her. After all he was somewhat of an expert at reading her these days – probably always had been an expert at it._

_Sighing audibly, Andy turned around in his arms before facing him. "It's Leo," she told him quietly, nestling her head underneath his chin._

"_What about him?" Sam asked running his hands up and down her rigid back. Knowing the anniversary of Jerry's death was coming up soon, he had tried to be observant of Leo and Traci's moods, but maybe something had escaped his knowledge. _

"_Traci says that he's withdrawing more and more," Andy turned around in his arms, her arms wrapping themselves around his waist._

"_It's been a tough year all around," he mused tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "So, the camping trip was a bust?" Sam asked._

"_No, not at all," she persisted. "The only problem had been that we couldn't stay out there forever. Traci says that the minute the day-to-day started up again, Leo withdrew from her again."_

_Sam nodded his head in understanding. He knew exactly how that worked; he had been the same way following Jerry's all too soon death. Sam had immersed himself in work, hoping that would keep the reality at bay, but all it had done was to delay the evitable reality of the fact that Jerry wasn't coming back. And to top it all off, he'd taken his anger and sadness out on Andy._

"_How about we include Leo in our plans..?" he suggested with a shrug of his shoulders. _

"_You mean..?" Andy asked tentatively biting down on her bottom lip._

"_Yup!" Sam popped the 'p' before continuing._

"_He was pretty set on it at Frank and Noelle's reception," she figured. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind him tagging along? Making the day about him?" Andy asked hesitantly knowing that them getting a dog was the step right before them moving in together. But the fact that Sam was willing to let the day be about Leo, and not the two of them made warmth spread through her entire body._

"_Mind?" Sam asked all but tripping over the word. "Leo means a lot to me too, Andy. I made a promise to Jerry to watch out for him and Traci, and that's what I intend to do."_

_Andy instantly curled her arms around Sam's neck bringing his body close to hers whispering her gratitude into his ear. _

* * *

They have already been out buying a leash, a water and a food bowl as well as toys – including a plastic baton and of course a padded dog basket. Sam has stocked his cabinet with dog food as well as dog treats – having no doubt in his mind that Boo will earn his dues.

The name is non-negotiable, why is also why Andy is well aware that the testosterone will be flowing in Sam's house. Good thing that she has a handle on Sam these days and by extension Boo as well.

The dog will be a fresh start for them – and maybe that's exactly what they all need.

"I'm okay," Leo shrugs his small shoulders avoiding eye contact with her, keeping his eyes trained on his fiddling fingers in his lap.

"Well, I hope you're more than okay," Andy starts, which makes Leo lift his eyes to hers.

"Why?" he asks intrigued not having noticed where they're parked.

"Why?" Andy asks exasperatedly. "Because, dude, look at where we're parked," she points out the window at the sign above the front door.

"What are we doing here?" Leo asks dubiously sitting up straight in his seat seeing dogs running around in the enclosed yard next to the seemingly dull-looking grey building that they're parked next to.

"We're about to meet some of the coolest dogs on the planet, and you need to be up for it," Andy tells him patting him on the knee playfully.

Leo's eyes light up at her words and his lips twist into a full-on smirk upon realizing what his honorary aunt is telling him.

"Awesome!" he declares pumping a fist in the air. "Let's do this!" Leo exclaims unbuckling his seatbelt, and scattering out of the truck with Andy in tow.

* * *

"Mr. Swarek..?" a brown-haired woman dressed in a pair of jeans and a white tee shirt asks approaching Sam, Andy and Leo with an outstretched hand.

"That's right…Cathy right?" he guesses recognizing her voice from belonging to the woman he's talked to on the phone a couple of times by now.

"Cathy McIntyre, it's nice to meet you," she smiles at him letting her eyes take in the forms of Leo and Andy with a questioning look in her eyes. "Is this your family?" Cathy asks letting go of Sam's hand.

"No!" Andy blurts out making Sam frown at her with narrowed eyes. He doesn't know what to make of her outburst. He has tried to approach the topic of her moving into his house with him, but whenever Sam brings it up, she evades the topic at hand.

Tilting his head to look between Sam and Andy, Leo senses the tension between them, and holds his hand out to Cathy introducing himself to her. "I'm Leo."

"Nice to meet you Leo," Cathy tells him with a kind smile, while Sam stares at Andy with a look of hurt on his face.

* * *

"_I don't really see what the problem is, Andy!" he had snapped unwillingly at her the night before._

_They had been dancing around the subject for days now ever since they had decided to get a dog together. She was onboard with sharing a dog with him, but when Sam had once again put the prospect of her moving in onto the table Andy had withdrawn._

"_Sam, please..," she covered her face with her hands sighing deeply in the back of her throat._

"_What is it?" Sam asked curling his hands around Andy's wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. "What are you afraid of?" he asked bending slightly in his knees making her look him in the eyes._

"_I am __**not**__ afraid of anything!" Andy persisted yanking her hands out of Sam's before walking into the bedroom._

_Sam took a couple of minutes to gather his senses – not to mention his temper - before following her into the darkened bedroom. He stood in the doorway watching, as Andy pulled the comforter down on the bed – signaling that she was getting ready for bed._

"_So, that's it?" he asked folding his arms in front of his chest in a defensive pose making his biceps bulge underneath the tight tee shirt he had on. "We're not even going to discuss this properly?" Sam asked pointedly, as Andy turned on the lamp on the bedside table._

"_We have," she said bypassing him on her way to her dresser to grab her pajamas. _

_That was it!_

_Sam had had enough of her passive aggressiveness. She was acting like the subject had been closed because she said so. Andy pulled a blue singlet and a pair of checkered flannel pajamas pants out of the drawer in her dresser. _

_Walking up behind her, he grabbed her hands from behind stopping her progress whispering into her ear with a controlled voice he didn't know he possessed at the moment. "Stop it, Andy. Just stop."_

_Blowing a strand of hair away from her face, Andy turned around to face Sam with uncertainty written all over her face. _

"_Talk to me," he pleaded with her not liking the feeling he was experiencing in the pit of his stomach._

_Running her teeth through her lower lip, Andy met Sam's penetrative look when he tilted her chin up. "Why can't __**this **__be enough for you?" she asked on the verge of tears silently indicating the two of them. "Why does it have to be one way or the other?"_

"_Andy, what's the point in both of us paying rent when you spend as much time as you do at my house?" Sam asked._

_She could see his point, of course she could. But with everything they had gone through ever since she'd returned from the task force, Andy didn't want them rushing into anything. And moving in with Sam was rushing in her mind._

"_Sam..," she clenched her eyes shut on an exhale knowing that what she was about to say would undoubtedly put space in-between them, that she didn't want there to be. But Andy had to listen to what her heart was telling her, and right now it was telling her that it was too soon. "I just can't do it," she finally said with tears glistening in her brown pools._

_Tilting his head, looking up at the ceiling, Sam released a huff of air before turning on his heel and stalking out of the bedroom without glancing back at Andy._

"_Where are you going?" she asked weakly wiping away the tears that had created a trail down her cheeks with the back of her hand._

_Stopping in the doorway, Sam answered her question with a simple word. "Couch," he told her before walking into the living room._

_That night neither of them got any sleep that amounted to anything. While they had slept in the same apartment, they may as well have been countries apart. _

* * *

"Are you guys ready to meet some great dogs?" Cathy asks. Her question is mostly aimed at Leo since Sam is staring intently at Andy, while she's averting her gaze to the floor.

"Yeah!" Leo enthusiastically exclaims following after her. It isn't until they reach the door that connects the outer office with where the dogs are kept, that he looks back to where Sam and Andy are still rooted to the spot. "Aren't you coming, Andy?"

Chancing a look into Sam's eyes, she finally finds her voice and answers her honorary nephew's question with a nod of her head. Andy can feel Sam's released breath on her cheek, as she walks by him to go to Leo.

Cathy opens the door into the pound, and a chorus of barks in different volumes reverberates through the walls of the office. Leo and Andy walk through the door, holding hands, while Cathy quirks an eyebrow at Sam – clearly questioning why he hasn't moved his feet yet.

"Aren't you coming Mr. Swarek?"

Snapping out of his dire thoughts, Sam manages a bop of his head before heading through the door followed closely by Cathy.

* * *

The tension between Sam and Andy has been simmering after having looked at several dogs, who have excitedly shown the three of them all of their tricks – in hopes of going home with them.

Leo has however been so wrapped up in a two-year-old Labradoodle that he hasn't bothered to cast a glance in their direction.

They have moved into a room where Cathy says that the younger dogs receive training when the pound readies them for life when living with a family.

Leo has been playing fetch with the dog for the past ten minutes, and has already announced that his name is Boo, and that he's definitely coming home with them.

Sam has tried to feel the excitement that Leo is feeling, but seeing as how there's a giant wall between him and Andy again, he's having trouble conjuring up any such thing.

Andy is sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Leo, and is rubbing Boo's floppy ears, which the dog is delighted by if his groan of pleasure is any indication.

"Can't we take him home with us?" Leo pleads with her. "Please," he begs showing her his puppy dog eyes that usually results in him getting his way.

"I'm not the one you have to ask, Leo," Andy informs him bopping her head towards the spot where Sam is bracing his back against a wall with his arms folded across his chest.

"Please, Uncle Sam," Leo looks at him, while petting Boo's back. "He's perfect," he maintains when Sam pushes away from the wall and makes his way to where they're sitting.

"You sure, Buddy?" he asks Leo squatting down to pet the panting dog's head. Sam is purposely avoiding eye contact with Andy, but he can feel her eyes on him. It had been a stupid fight, he's very well aware of that. And maybe he had been pushing her towards something more solid between them, but he's just tired of waiting.

"I am," Leo persists when Boo pushes his wet muzzle against Sam's hand clearly indicating that he's everything they've been looking for.

"_See_, Uncle Sam?" Leo says with a know-it-all smirk. "He's choosing _us_." He says indicating the three of them with his free hand.

"Not all of us," Sam says under his breath, but the words are caught by Andy, who gives him an icy glare sitting on the other side of Boo.

"If you want to know some facts about the breed I can help out," the newly arrived Cathy tells them standing just inside the doorway.

"That would be great, Cathy!" Andy says loudly looking straight at Sam before turning her head to look at the woman smiling awkwardly at her.

"Well, first of Labradoodles are very friendly, energetic and good with families and children," she says the last word looking lovingly at Leo before continuing her pitch. "They love water and are usually very strong swimmers."

As if knowing that a decision on his future is about to happen, Boo turns on his back urging the humans around him to pet his stomach. Leo gives him what he wants, while the dog gives Sam a look that could melt the iciest heart known to man.

"He's a charmer," Andy giggles before letting her hand join Leo's on Boo's stomach.

"You're milking it," Sam admonishes the animal, as his hand joins Andy and Leo's. As if on instinct his fingers touch Andy's on Boo's fur, and a bout of electricity goes through them, as their eyes lock.

"Labradoodles are very intelligent and trainable," Cathy picks up her speech. "Seeing as he's two-years-old he's already been trained, but will of course need some additional training when acclimating to a new home," she explains.

"So..," Leo drawls out the word looking between Sam and Andy for the longest time, who haven't broken their gaze.

"Mr. Swarek?" Cathy also asks.

Boo grunts turning onto his stomach before rising from the floor, and walking straight up to Sam. Nudging at his face with his wet muzzle, he indicates that he should pay attention to the task at hand instead of ogling the nice looking lady sitting opposite him on the floor.

"Mr. Swarek?!" Cathy finally pierces through the haze that he and Andy have been in since their gazes locked a couple of minutes ago.

"We'll take him," Sam tells her not averting his eyes from Andy's for a second.

"Yay!" Leo exclaims throwing his arms around Boo's neck. "You're coming home with us Boo!" he giggles as the dog licks his face repeatedly in thanks for fighting for him.

"I'll get started on the paperwork then," Cathy tells them before walking towards the outer office again.

"I love you Boo," Leo gushes showering the pooch with kisses. Andy finally drags her eyes off of Sam and takes in the sight of Leo and Boo.

* * *

On the way home, Leo asks if he can stay over and suddenly the tension that existed between Sam and Andy before they'd met Boo is back. Because where is Andy staying tonight? She can feel the tension radiating off of Sam, and she knows that the whole living together hoop-la will be resurrected.

"I'll call your mom and ask her, okay dude?" Andy asks looking behind her to watch Leo sitting next to Boo, who has his muzzle up against the slightly-opened window of Sam's silver truck.

Leo nods his head in agreement petting the dog's back when they pull onto Sam's street.

"Hey girl, how is my little guy behaving?" Traci says as a way of greeting at the same time as Sam pulls into his driveway.

"He's been on his very best behavior all day, Trace," Andy promises her friend casting a look at the smiling Leo, who's been on the top of the world ever since meeting his new best friend.

Feeling Sam's eyes on her, Andy turns around to look at him not knowing what it is that he wants from her. With a loud sigh, he opens his door and gets out before helping Boo and Leo out as well.

"Andy? You still there?" Traci asks, while Andy watches her three favorite men disappear through the front door of Sam's house.

"Yeah…I'm here..," she replies weakly, as Traci's voice brings her back to reality.

"What's wrong?" her friend's concerned voice asks Andy, who is on the verge on tears.

"I messed up, Trace."

"Tell me what happened," Traci urges her.

Leaning her head against the headrest of the passenger seat in the truck Andy tells her what had been going on between her and Sam for the past couple of days, and how it has all come to a head today.

"I just panicked, Traci," she tells her. "We've been taking things slowly, and then we agree to get a dog and now he wants to live with me!" Andy squeaks out the last word making it abundantly clear that the shock has not weaned off yet.

"He loves you Andy."

Nodding her head, despite the fact that she knows that Traci can't see her Andy knows that Sam _does_ love her, just like she loves him.

"I love him too, I love him so much."

"Then what about telling _him_ that?"

"You're right," Andy nods her head feeling more at ease after having talking to a voice of reason. "Oh, by the way can Leo spend the night? He's completely smitten by Boo and has really lightened up."

"Of course, I can't wait to meet the newest addition to the Swarek household, I'm sure Leo won't hold back any details," Traci giggles before finishing up the phone call with Andy urging her to tell Sam what's in her heart.

* * *

But telling Sam Swarek that you love him isn't easy when he avoids you like the plague. After having ended her call with Traci, Andy had walked into Sam's house and found it empty. She had finally found the boys out in the backyard tossing a ball around with Boo.

During dinner he hadn't looked at her either, instead Sam had been occupied with Leo and Boo discussing what the next couple of days of training the dog would entail.

At about ten o'clock in the evening, Sam had grabbed a pair of mattresses for him and Leo. Cathy had told them that spending the night with Boo would help the dog feel more secure in his new home, and Leo had of course jumped at the chance.

Leo had hugged Andy goodnight, while Sam had just trotted into the kitchen followed closely by Boo and then finally Leo after he had bid Andy a good night.

The fact that Sam has been purposely ignoring her ever since they got home from the pound is starting to get on Andy's nerve.

An hour into her musings, she realizes that she may as well speculate upstairs in bed, so she gets up from the couch and walks into the kitchen to fetch her bag.

The sight that meets her on the kitchen floor makes her loose her breath.

Literally.

Sam has an arm thrown across his face slumbering deeply, and Leo is tucked against his side. His head is nestled against his uncle's shoulder, while his arm is lying limply across Sam's chest. It's obvious to Andy that Leo fell asleep rubbing Boo's head since the dog's head is resting on Sam's stomach – rising in tune with his owner's breathing.

Andy covers her mouth with her hand taking in the impression of what she has to look forward to – living with Sam and Boo, and hopefully one day even more additions to _their_ family.

There! She's said it.

_Their_ family.

Unzipping her bag, she pulls out her cell phone, and presses a couple of buttons until the camera function shows up on the display. Placing her bag onto the counter again, Andy holds the phone out in front of her until she's got the perfect shot of Sam, Leo and Boo together.

With a small click she freezes the moment in time.

Touching the screen of her cell phone with the pad of her index finger she pulls up the picture, and finally realizes just how stupid she has been acting.

The picture tells her everything that she needs to know.

Her future is with Sam, and that will never change.

* * *

**A/N2: **I hope you enjoyed the introduction of Boo ;)

In the next chapter Andy corners Sam and tells him what's in her heart, while an ex makes his appearance.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **thank you for all the continued feedback to this story :)

* * *

**[XIII]**

By the time morning comes Sam is anything but clearheaded. He walks Boo with Leo, who is almost floating down the street walking his new best friend with Sam.

While Leo eats breakfast in the kitchen, Sam peers into his bedroom to find Andy on _his_ side of the bed, clutching _his_ pillow to her chest and her upper body wrapped up in _his_ tee shirt.

She's a vision with her bedhead hair, while he's a coward skulking out of the room after having checked in on her before driving Leo to school.

Sitting by his desk, unable to concentrate on the task at hand, he suddenly feels her eyes on him. Sam knows that she's there, and that they need to talk, and actually deal with _this_. But his default coping mechanism has always been to avoid the hard stuff, and having to actually deal with this stuff is beyond anticlimactic for him.

* * *

"_Sam, I know you don't want to be alone. You just want to avoid the hard stuff. No, no, no, listen. Like changing, growing, and let me tell ya…you don't grow, you die." Oliver had told him what seemed like a lifetime ago._

"_You know that is genuinely cool advice, and I'm gonna return the favor. I'm gonna suggest that you start hosting your own radio talk show." Sam had quipped needing to alleviate the moment between the two friends with humor, because the reality of his situation with Andy was too dire to think about. _

"_Buddy…" Oliver had groaned at Sam's flippant attitude. _

* * *

Looking up from the file splayed out on his desk, Sam notices Andy's rigid posture standing in the doorway of his and Nash's office. She's wearing a pair of khaki capri pants, a white ruffled button down shirt with a pair of black flip flops gracing her feet.

Boo is sitting next to her on the floor with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth – undoubtedly from a long walk since Sam had left Andy no other choice but to walk here. It isn't like she could leave him behind considering the fact that he hadn't even been with them for an entire day yet.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks, regretting the words the second they leave his mouth since it's pretty obvious what she's doing here.

'_You left her no other choice, you dumbass!'_ he chides himself silently.

"Didn't really have any other choice seeing as you left _us_ high and dry this morning," she scoffs indicating her and Boo with a movement of the hand that's not holding the leash that's attached to Boo's collar.

Pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers, Sam suddenly realizes just how stupidly he's been acting. Leaving Andy and Boo stranded at his house hadn't been his intention, but at the time he hadn't really thought beyond needing to distract himself with work, and to avoid the constant thoughts of Andy finding moving in with him so offensive.

"Here you go, Boy!" Chloe's enthusiastic voice calls from behind them making Sam and Andy cease their intense battle of wills.

Upon seeing the new human in front of him, Boo's tail begins to wag loudly against Andy's capri-clad leg. Taking in the bowl of water that Price is positioning in front of the hound, Boo looks up at her gratefully earning him a couple of soft pets of the head.

"Sam, we need to talk," Andy tells him, while Boo slurps down some water.

Standing up from behind his desk, he gathers the file, holding it in a vice grip in front of his chest – almost as if using it as a shield against whatever the woman in front of him wants to talk to him about.

"Andy..," Sam starts, but is interrupted when the boisterous voice of Frank Best cuts through the tension in the room.

"Is there a party in here that I wasn't invited to?" their Staff Sergeant asks eying the dog that his Goddaughter is enraptured by.

"No, not at all, Boss," Sam offers up with a timid smile watching as Frank squats down next to Chloe rubbing Boo's ears after the dog has ceased his gulping.

"You aren't scheduled for work today are you, McNally?" Best asks taking in what can only be described as utter tension between her and Sam.

"No," she tells him with a smile. "I just need to _talk_ to Sam about something," Andy puts pressure on the word, while giving Sam a stern look.

"Parade is gonna start in a few minutes," Frank tells them both standing up again. "See you in there, Swarek."

Nodding his head, Sam says, "You got it, Boss."

Andy can't believe her own ears.

_She_ wants to _talk_ to _him_, she wants _them_ to _deal_ and _now_ he's pulling away? It seems like he can't even bear to be in the same room with her anymore.

What the hell?

In the few seconds, it has taken those thoughts to course through her mind, Sam has moved past her and is now standing in the doorway of the office looking back at her.

"We'll talk later, eh?" he assumes giving Andy no chance to answer because he immediately turns on his heel, walking away.

"Oh, like hell you say..," she swears underneath her breath making Boo's ears pop up straight in attention. Squatting down in front of the dog, Andy urges him near by snapping her fingers. Petting his head, she tells him that she's gonna have some words with his _dad_, and there's nothing Sam Swarek can do about it.

"You want me to watch him?" Chloe asks surprising Andy. She hasn't even noticed that the rookie is still in the room with her and Boo.

"You sure you have time?" she asks arching a brow silently asking if she doesn't have a job to do instead of dog sitting for her.

"I'm on desk duty because of that thing that happened last week," Chloe answers making Andy wince. She should've known that. If anyone, Andy knows what it's like to be pushed to desk duty when you've been through some traumatic incident on the street.

Chloe had been paired up with Diaz that day, and they had split up when chasing down a perpetrator to better their chances of catching the guy. Originally the idea had been novel, and if it hadn't been for the fact that Price's eagerness had nearly gotten her killed, then it all would've been fine.

But she had caught up with the guy, and when trying to cuff him, she had momentarily been distracted by Diaz' voice over the radio. Chloe had lost her grip on the guy, and found herself, back-down on the ground with the guy training her own gun on her after having come to after their scuffle.

Chris had eventually talked the guy down, but Chloe is now on desk duty, and considering the fact that she's Frank Best's Goddaughter it may be awhile yet before she's back on the streets.

"It shouldn't take too long," Andy smiles kindly at her before telling Boo to be good. Turning around in the doorway of the office, she tells Chloe what she considers to be sage advice at this point in her life. "Give yourself the time you need, Chloe. And find someone that you can talk to about it, bottling it up inside will only cause you to blow up at some point."

* * *

Parade had seemed to go on forever. She had stolen a glance into the room from the outside having found Sam standing up front and center presenting what she'd figured to be the case of the day and the priority. Andy still can't quite wrap her mind around the fact that Sam's a Detective, and that change has certainly thrown her for a loop ever since returning to 15, but they have weathered the storm and there's no way in hell she'll let something trivial like their living arrangements tear them apart.

"Very good, Swarek!" Frank exclaims once Sam has finished his presentation of the case and within a couple of minutes people are filtering out of the parade room.

'_It's now or never,'_ Andy thinks to herself when she notices Sam approaching her, his eyes only taking in the words displayed on the file in his hands.

Taking a deep breath, she reaches out and grabs Sam's wrist yanking him towards her. Usually the weight of his body wouldn't have allowed her to just tow him after her, but he'd been easy to maneuver into the empty interrogation room given the fact that his guard had been down.

"What the..," Sam grumbles in mid-stride right before the door slams shut and he finds himself pushed up against it with a gasping McNally standing in front of him.

"You," she points a finger at him before continuing. "_Are_ going to listen to _me_!" Andy tells him digging her pointed index finger into his chest for emphasis.

"I really don't have time for this, Andy," he complains indicating the file in his hand with a movement of his eyes.

"You bet your ass you do!" she shouts taking Sam by surprise if those two raised eyebrows of his are any indication.

"Excuse me?" he asks.

"No, you're not excused, Sam!" Andy seizes the file from his hand, throwing it onto the floor before continuing to speak in a high-pitched tone of voice. "I expressed doubts about us moving in together, I never said we were over!"

"And _I_ did?" Sam asks pointing a finger at himself incredously – his mouth agape.

"You didn't even talk to me before leaving the house this morning, you just locked up the house and went off. What exactly does that tell you?"

"I don't know," Sam shrugs his shoulders unable to look Andy in the eyes. He knows what he'll see, the disappointment that he's tired of seeing in those brown pools of hers.

The fact that he won't look her in the eyes, clues Andy in on the fact that Sam is very well aware of what he's done, what she's done, really, what they've done to each other.

Swallowing audibly, she places a soft hand underneath his chin before tilting his head up. "Hey..," she whispers. "If you'd only bothered to wake me up, I would've told you that I'm about to put in a call to a realtor."

"A realtor?" Sam asks taken aback.

"That is who you call when you won't be using your toilet-factory condo anymore isn't it?" Andy lips twist into a careful smile unable to hide the joy at seeing Sam speechless and falling all over himself to comprehend what she's telling him.

"Are you serious?" he asks finally having found his voice.

Nodding her head slowly, Andy offers him the only silent answer to his question that she can find. A warmth spreads throughout her belly when she sees Sam's otherwise somber lips curl into a face-splitting grin.

"You're gonna move in with me?" he asks disbelieving as his dimples peak out and the creases at his eyes are on full display.

"I am..," Andy nods her head vigorously smiling a bright grin up at him. "Someone has to make sure that Boo grows up to be a well-mannered boy," she retorts curling her arms around his neck. "God only knows that between you and Oliver..," Sam slants his mouth across hers in a sizzling kiss cutting off any words that had been on their way out of her mouth.

Bending slightly in his knees, Sam grasps Andy by her thighs boosting her up, and like with everything else between them she reads his intentions and wraps her legs around his waist.

"God..," he gasps nuzzling her nose with his taking the moment in. "I know we haven't really been apart, but I feel like it's been weeks since we've been like this."

"Sam..," Andy murmurs against his lips closing her eyes.

"What?"

"Please, shut up," she pleads with him pressing her soft lips against his. Removing one hand from underneath her butt, he manages to lock the door. Andy opens her mouth, allowing his tongue entry to slide inside.

Finding what he's seeking, Sam immediately starts to stroke Andy's tongue with his. It doesn't take much encouragement from him before McNally's sucking on his pink tongue gripping his short hair in pleasure. "This is crazy..," he groans kissing his way from her succulent lips to her soft chin.

"You want to stop?" Andy asks tilting her head back when she feels Sam's teeth graze the tender skin on her throat. When he sucks the skin into his talented mouth, she lets out a loud gasp.

"Do _you_?" Sam asks against her skin.

"Not a chance..," she moans feeling him move them to the table in the middle of the room. Thankfully she knows that the room isn't scheduled to be used for anything, unless something comes up of course.

Positioning her on the edge of the table, Sam leans against her making Andy sit back on her hands, arching her back against him. "You sure about this?" he asks, his deft fingers starting to unbutton the buttons on her white ruffled shirt.

"Mmm..," running her teeth through her lower lip Andy nods her head repeatedly getting lost in the sensation of having Sam's fingers on her body.

The minute his lips move across the swell of her breasts, Andy feels like everything's on fire. Her breasts are one of her many pleasure points, and Sam knows it. She knows that she can't let this go on for too much longer – with the two of them frolicking in front of a two-way mirror.

Combing her fingers through his hair, Andy feels the pad of Sam's tongue tracing a path across her breasts and knows that it's only a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds before he'll eighty-six her bra.

It's not that Andy isn't adventurous, but going topless in an interrogation at 15 Division has never really been a fantasy of hers.

The decision is however taken out of her hands with the buzzing of Sam's cell. She actually has to push him off of her when he doesn't make any moves to get up despite the insistent ringing.

"What?!" Sam barks into the contraption allowing Andy time to re-button her shirt and putting her hair into something that could resemble a hair style of some sort.

His forehead furrows listening to whoever's on the other end, and by the time he hangs up, the easy-going Sam is gone, and Detective Swarek is back with her.

"What is it?" Andy asks not liking what she's seeing on his face.

Taking a step back from her, Sam attempts to gather his senses before uttering two words that he'd never thought he'd hear himself say.

"Callaghan's back."

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Sam exclaims, his arms folded across his chest with repugnancy pouring off of him for the man standing in the middle of the room.

Luke has just explained why he's back; an undercover assignment that's on the verge of falling apart. The cop that has a drop scheduled for tonight has been forced to back out due to her father dying. Callaghan is pretty much screwed if he doesn't find a substitute fast and luckily enough there hasn't been a face-to-face meeting yet. On top of which Andy is – according to Callaghan - best suited for the op – taking her most recent taskforce experience into account.

"Swarek..," Frank begins to say when Luke cuts in.

"I'm not crazy about this either, Sam! But putting these guys away will keep a lot of dope from hitting the streets. Don't you want that?" he asks with an arched brow.

"That's not the point!" Sam barks at him with dark eyes standing up from the desk he's been perched against.

"Then what is?" Luke retorts. "Please enlighten us," he indicates Andy and Frank as well as himself who are ensconced in Sam and Nash's office.

"I'm not letting _you_ put Andy in a dangerous position _again_," he answers truthfully.

He and Andy may have talked about what had happened on the taskforce, and she has worked through the issues with her psychologist, but that doesn't mean that Sam has forgotten about Callaghan's part in all of this.

"Sam..," Andy attempts to cut through all the testosterone flooding the room, but to no avail when Luke asks Sam what he had meant with his earlier words.

"You put her in a dangerous situation, and when it all comes to a head, you don't even have the balls to pull her out!" he yells pointing an accusatory finger at Luke.

"It wasn't my place!" Callaghan maintains, his voice rising in octaves to match Sam's.

"That's such a cop out!" Sam insists vehemently.

"Alright! Enough men!" Frank exclaims waving his arms in the air, as if calling each of them back to their respective corners. "This isn't a retraining exercise," he warns them giving Andy a knowing look.

Walking to stand in front of Sam, she tells Luke that she needs to talk to Sam alone – with her back turned to her ex-fiancé's front.

"I need an answer quickly, Andy," Callaghan tells her standing in the doorway of the office. "I'm on the clock."

Andy can see the look that Sam is sending his nemesis behind her back, and if looks could kill, Luke would positively be a dead man.

"Don't even think about defending him," he warns her once the door has closed behind Luke and Frank. Andy watches Sam, as he moves to stand by the windows overlooking the outer office space of 15 Division.

"I'm _not_ defending Luke," she admits. Andy doesn't actively blame him for anything really, but knowing Sam like she does; Andy knows that it's a lost cause to argue with him right now on the matter. "But I _do_ want to do _this_."

"_What?"_ Sam almost gasps turning around to face her with an utter look of shock on his features.

"I _need_ to do this," Andy insists as a stray tear makes a path down her cheek.

"Why?" he questions walking towards her. "Why the hell would you put yourself through this? To prove something?" Sam asks cupping her face in his hands.

"I don't expect you to understand it," Andy says lowering her head, avoiding eye contact with Sam afraid of what she'll see in them if she looks.

Using his hands to tilt her head up, he makes her look him in the eyes with an obvious question in mind. "Understand what?"

"Sam..," just uttering his name has her swallowing a lump in her throat before being able to continue. "_I _need to do this for _me_. _I_ need to prove to myself that I'm better, that _I_ can deal with whatever is thrown at me. Please don't make me choose," she implores him with a look of trepidation in her eyes.

Pressing his lips against her forehead, Sam can feel a battle of wills happening inside him. His heart versus his brain. His heart wants to give Andy what she needs, because _she's_ what _he_ needs. But his brain knows the dangers that are usually associated with these types of UC's despite Callaghan's well-rehearsed pitch.

"On one condition," Sam murmurs against her skin.

"What?" she sniffs taking a short step back looking up at him tentatively.

"I'll be in the van with Callaghan," Sam tells informs her. "Don't argue," her warns her when she opens her mouth to speak. If she's adamant about going, then she'd have to deal with his presence there, because there's no way in hell he's trusting Luke with her safety again.

Andy can't believe her own ears. Never in a million years had she expected him to go along with her, which is also why she all but jumps into his arms kissing his cheek roughly before whispering a soft, but firm "Thank you, Sam," into his ear.

Wrapping his arms around her frame, Sam looks up at the ceiling praying to whoever's up there that he hasn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.

* * *

As it turns out the entire drop goes off without a hitch.

Andy had been ever the professional, not even flinching when her contact had grilled her on what only Leigh; her cover would know.

The knowledge that Sam had been sitting in the van across the street had given her so much peace of mind that she had been able to focus on the job, and not worry about where he'd been or what he'd been doing – much like she'd done throughout the taskforce.

Shutting her locker, Andy makes her way out of the station. Sam had texted her a couple of minutes ago saying he'd pick up Boo from Chloe and wait for her out by the truck. It still amazes Andy that with how the day had started, that it would end on such a good note.

Her and Sam had proven to each other, finally, that they trusted each other and had the other's back when push came to shove. Andy hadn't had any second thoughts about putting her condo up for sale or moving in with Sam and Boo.

She knows in her heart of hearts that it's what she needs to do, and that Sam is the one constant in her life. Not her job – despite the highs she's experienced with that, but the man, who has supported her through months of denial, sadness, sorrow and realization.

Andy really feels like she's on a road that's leading to something better and something that will ultimately give them both the future that they've craved for all of those months they've been apart.

Upon entering the parking lot, Andy immediately spots the silver truck and Sam propped up against it, resting his delectable backside against the passenger side door.

Her grin widens when she notices the cracked window on the backseat side door, and in particular the panting dog that has his head perched on top of the window with his tongue dangling out of his mouth.

"Waiting for _me_?" Andy asks giggling, as she makes her way across the parking lot to her guys.

"If you'll have us, that is..," Sam quips pulling her into his arms. "Good job out there, Copper," he tells her with a sense of pride in his tone of voice. "I'm proud of you, McNally," he tells her framing her face with his warm hands.

"Thank you," she tells him smiling softly up at him. "That means a lot coming from you."

"My pleasure. Come here, you," leaning in, Sam touches her lips with his ever so softly – showering her mouth with his love.

A whimpering Boo makes them pull apart after a couple of minutes of kissing when the dog apparently thinks that enough is enough.

"Alright!" Sam grumbles with a smile directed at Boo. Despite the fact that he has only been with them for a little over a day, Boo has made himself right at home with Sam and Andy. "You ready to go home?" he turns his brown eyes to Andy's for an answer to his question.

"Yeah, I am," she tells him nodding her head slowly. _"Home," _Andy whispers with a good feeling in the pit of her stomach. She lets a grinning Sam help her into the truck before getting in himself and driving them all _home_.

* * *

**A/N2: **Only one chapter to go now :)

Next up we have the actual moving-day, so if there's anything you haven't seen yet, that you'd like to see, try pm'ing me, and I'll see if I can incorporate in in the chapter - provided of course that it fits in with what I've already planned ;)


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **this story has sadly come to an end :(

But I want to thank you all for the reviews and favorites - it really means a lot :)

* * *

**[XIV]**

Four months later Sam's bachelor pad has been converted into a home fit for a man, a woman and their dog. His otherwise darkened furniture has been spruced up with colorful pillows and blankets. His bookshelves now hold picture frames of their family and friends, and his coffee table, dining room table and so forth are coupled up with vases of flowers.

Andy doesn't want to change his style, but has been very adamant about incorporating her sense of style in Sam's, and if you ask her, she'd tell you that she thinks she's done a pretty damn good job of it.

They have certainly had their disagreements about where to put Andy's stuff or what to do about the ideas she's had when they've hit an impasse, but instead of scowling at each other, giving up or just plain walking out they've talked it through and found a compromise.

Sam has even gone with her to see Dr. Shute for her final consultation. He hadn't said anything, but just his presence in a room that had originally scared her shitless had made Andy see just far she's come, but also how far they've come.

Dr. Shute had complimented her on her progress, but also maintained that if she doesn't keep up her new way of thinking and acting then she'd be back where she'd started in the first place.

It hadn't been meant as a warning, but more as a word of advice.

Andy had clutched Sam's hand tightly during the session, and when he had squeezed it right back, she had known that that wouldn't happen.

They weren't the same people, they'd been when Andy had left town with Nick all of those months ago, and she doubted that those people would ever resurface.

Andy had never thought that the condo would've been sold in a matter of four months, but while her realtor had advertised in the local papers and on the Internet, Andy had put up flyers down at the station and in _'The Penny'_.

Luckily enough Chloe had been on the look-out for a new place, and had found a roommate, so they were now living in Andy's old condo, and if the rumors were true then it wouldn't take long before Dov would become a permanent part of the rookie's life.

They have been moving the last of Andy's stuff into Sam's house today; Shaw has been helping out as well as a pseudo-mover.

Actually, he's spent more time out on the porch with a beer-in-hand, petting Boo's head than doing any actual acts of labor, but whatever.

It's the thought that counts, right?

"You happy?" Sam murmurs against her hairline, wrapping his arms around Andy's waist from behind.

Turning her head slightly towards the sound of his voice, she nudges Sam's nose with hers. Gives him a big smile before kissing him softly on the lips. "Deliriously," she hums against his lips.

"Good..," he whispers quietly. His hold around Andy's middle tightens, as the intensity of their kiss picks up. Removing one hand from around her stomach, Sam cups one cheek with his free hand turning her body into his.

Linking her arms around Sam's neck, Andy settles her body against Sam's hard one getting lost in the licks that he's applying her mouth with. It isn't until the sound of Boo's paws clicking across their hardwood floors reaches their ears that they realize they're not alone any longer.

"Hmm hmm..," Shaw fake-coughs with one hand covering his mouth.

"What..?" Sam grumbles against Andy's lips, having no intention of removing himself from her body.

"I can't talk to you like _this_, brother..," he tells an occupied Sam.

"Like what..?"

"Attached to McNally and all," Oliver says making Sam and Andy chuckle against each other's lips. "Come on, man!"

"Fine," Sam relents giving Andy's lips one last peck before turning around to face Shaw head-on. "What can _we_ do for _you_, Ollie?" he asks wrapping his arms around Andy's shoulder from behind eying his friend over her head.

"_You_," Oliver points a finger in Sam's direction. "Can drive _me_ home like you promised, so I don't get in trouble with the missus."

"Trouble in paradise?" Sam asks resting his chin on top of Andy's head.

"There will be if you don't remove yourself from..," he indicates Andy with his hands, but doesn't finish his sentence.

"A very beautiful woman, who has made sure that you've had all the beer and sandwiches that you could drink and eat today?" Sam asks quirking an eyebrow at Oliver.

"Yeah, whatever," he says dismissing Sam's quip at him with a wav e of his hand. "See you later, Bud," he tells Boo patting him on the head. Walking to where Sam and Andy are standing, he kisses her on the cheek before giving Sam a glare and heading outside to the silver truck.

"I guess I'll be right out then!" Sam yells after his friend's retreating back. "Unless," he says turning Andy around to face him. "You want me to stay?"

"Sam, it's been weeks!" she admonishes him growing tired of his caveman attitude.

A couple of weeks ago, she'd been running down a suspect with Collins in tow in the squad car. The suspect had however turned a corner, and rounding that very corner Andy had found herself trapped up against a brick wall with a monster of a suspect pinning her to it.

Collins had had her back – like always. But not before the guy had gotten a couple of punches in, which had resulted in two bruised ribs and subsequent desk duty.

Andy hadn't even thought of calling Sam, because she'd been coherent, the suspect had been caught and Nick had taken her to the hospital. But since he _hadn't_ been there for her when it had happened, Sam had insisted on nursing her back to health.

Sam's version of nursing her back to health had consisted of him eying her every move, and subconsciously pissing her off because if there's one thing Andy can't handle then it's being micromanaged by Sam Swarek.

"I don't care," Sam speaks staccato vividly remembering the trepidation that had settled in his soul upon hearing the squad number that he'd known Andy had been working that day and then the words _'physical altercation'._

* * *

_"Andy!" Sam yelled charging up the stairs to his bedroom that night after having met up with Collins in the driveway. The guy had proven to indeed be a good friend to Andy. He had called Sam the minute he'd taken her to his house, telling him that he'd stay there until Sam got there._

"_Sam..?" her weak voice uttered from behind a veil of sleep. Sitting up in the middle of his bed, clearly wincing at the pain, clutching her abdomen, she looked at him with confusion in her brown pools. _

_It didn't take him many seconds before he was sitting on the bed next to Andy cupping her cheeks with his hands. "What happened?" he asked hoarsely. _

"_A couple of bruises..," Andy shrugged her shoulders as if a couple of bruised ribs were nothing at all. _

"_Bruises..?" Sam asked confused. "Where?" he added shaking his head attempting to get a hold of the information she was giving him._

_She was __**hurt**__._

_For the first time Sam noticed how Andy was still clutching her abdomen, and raising his eyes to hers, he begged her silently to lift that brown tank top of hers so he could take a look at her bruises._

_Taking the hem of her tank in her hands, she felt a puff of air leave Sam's mouth, and didn't even need to look at him to know that he was clenching his jaw shut._

_The bruises had slightly faded from the angry red welts that had been there at the scene to a slight bluish shadow darkening the skin on top of two of her ribs. _

"_It's not as bad as it looks..," Andy said, her gaze trained on Sam's dark eyes – undoubtedly thinking of pummeling the animal that had done this to her._

"_Not..," unable to speak, Sam swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing. "Not as bad as it looks..? Jesus Christ Andy! It looks like you've been kicked in the stomach." He told her._

_It killed her to see him hurt so much because of __**her**__, because of __**her**__ stupidity in her momentary lack of judgment in that freaking alley. _

_Letting an index finger trail across her abrasions, Sam watched as Andy hitched in a breath when his finger had obviously touched a very painful area on her abdomen. "God! I'm sorry, Sweetheart," he crooned kicking himself for having hurt her._

"_I'm okay..," Andy nodded her head needing to reassure him despite the fact that no matter how much pain medication she'd taken, her ribs were killing her._

_Making her lie down on her back, Sam laid down in-between her legs; a position he usually only took whenever he went __**down**__ on her. And Andy had a feeling that __**that**__ wouldn't be happening today, tonight or any of the immediate days to come. _

"_What are you doing?" she asked with a raised brow when Sam used his elbows to carry the brunt of his weight when he hovered above her body._

"_Nursing you back to health," he whispered against the skin of her stomach right before pressing his soft lips against the angry welts on her abdomen. _

_Combing her fingers through Sam's dark hair, Andy rested her head against the pillow, closing her eyes shut letting the softness of his lips lull her body into relaxation. _

* * *

"I'm fine," Andy maintains placing her hands on her hipbones in a defiant pose.

"You _always_ say that."

"Well," she replies. "I really mean it _this_ time."

"Alright!" Sam relents holding his hands up in mock surrender. By now he knows when to leave something alone, and this is certainly one of those times. "I'll drive Oliver home, and _you_," he walks to Andy and gives her a soft kiss on the lips before taking a step back. "Will take it slow."

"Yes, _Sir_," she mocks him holding her right hand up in salute against the side of her head.

"Funny," Sam quips playfully smacking her lightly on the ass before walking to where Boo is still sitting eying the banter between them.

"Take care of her will you, Bud?" Sam pats Boo on the head before walking outside to where Oliver would probably be fuming.

Boo obediently walks to where Andy is standing, and sits down next to her before raising his head and looking up at her with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"Oh!" Andy concedes squatting down next to the dog. "You two are just too much."

Boo barks his agreement before letting her fingers in his fur calm him down, as only she can.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, Sam has texted her telling Andy that he'll probably be another thirty having decided to pop by the supermarket on his way home.

She's sitting on the couch going through the last box of her belongings. It's filled with memories of her and Sam. The most recent is in the top of the pile; a photograph that had been taken no more than a couple of weeks ago at _'The Penny'_.

Sam had challenged her to a game of pool, and unable to let an opportunity to feel Sam's arms around her body slip away – Andy had taken him up on his offer.

* * *

"_Hey, Swarek!" Andy yelled standing at the pool table at __**'The Penny'**__ holding a pool stick in one hand, the end of it resting on the floor. "You coming?" She added lifting her eyebrows, while sporting an infectious smile on her lips._

"_I like it when you get bossy." Sam grinned walking towards her._

"_That's not the only thing you like," Andy retorted making him laugh out loud at her blatant attempt in trying to seduce him._

_If only she knew that it was useless – he was already madly in love with her, and had no intension of letting her get away __**again**__._

"_Let's do this, eh?" Sam said with a wink. _

_He placed his beer on a nearby table before walking up to Andy. She turned around, leaning in over the table, sporting the pool stick in her hand. "Alright, the trick is," he started to explain with one arm securely positioned at her hipbone, while the other rested on top of Andy's on the pool stick. "To slide it across the table in one fluid motion. No sudden moves, no nervous ticks, just send it off, in __**one**__, __**smooth**__, __**motion**__," Sam murmured against her temple. _

_Closing her eyes, Andy felt how her panties were now practically dripping with need. It was amazing that even the sound of his voice could send her quivering core to the brink. She loved the feeling of his hands on her body, and Andy didn't know how long she could it up._

_Sam wasn't looking at the table anymore; he was solely focused on Andy. His hips were tucked against her backside, his chest was molded into her back, his breathing was right against her cheek. She felt him, __**all over**__, but even in this hazy fog, in the bar, she wanted to show him just how great a student she was. __**'The Alpine' **__had made it very clear that pool wasn't her sport; Traci's sure, but not hers._

_But luckily there were plenty other things she'd easily get an __**A+**__ in. _

"_You're not helping." Andy hissed at him opening her eyes before redirecting her eyes to the pool table. The echoes of Sam's laughter resonated through the air in __**'The Penny'**__. _

"_Sorry, let's do this," he apologized profusely with that grin of his never having left his lips. Andy took a deep breath before sending the cue ball on a journey towards the eight-ball rack, sending the balls practically flying in opposite directions on the table. _

"_Hmm, you satisfied?" Andy asked in a sultry tone of voice turning around in his arms with what little room she had to maneuver in. _

"_Not bad, McNally, not bad at all," Sam smirked into her brown pools. Her pink tongue darted out, wetting her lips, as a wicked grin appeared on her lips. Leaning in, placing his mouth at Andy's ear he whispered huskily "I'm one hell of a teacher." _

_Leaning back, Andy framed Sam's face with her hands before crashing their lips together. "So am I," she insisted wickedly._

* * *

Letting a finger slide across the glass frame, Andy takes in their positions on the photograph. They're standing behind the pool table. Sam is holding the pool stick in one hand, while the other is wrapped around Andy's waist.

But that isn't what's caught her attention.

It's the grins they're wearing on their lips. They're happy, content and together.

Three things Andy had never imagined they'd be again upon having returned from the taskforce. And for once she's glad she'd been wrong.

* * *

"Chick flick or action?" Sam asks holding up a DVD in each hand – showing his clear disdain for the chick flick in his left hand with the scowl on his face.

"That one," Andy points to his left hand making him huff out a breath exasperatedly.

"Come on, _McNally!_" he all but whines drawing out the syllables in her name, as only Sam can.

"What?" she asks shrugging her shoulders. "It's been ages since we last saw a romantic comedy, Sam. We see violence daily." She points out.

"But it's the new one," he tries to pitch the action movie to her. "It's even with what's-his-face..," Sam brings the movie of his choice in front of his eyes to read who's starring in it.

"Channing Tatum," Andy offers up sitting on the couch cross-legged enjoying the view.

"Right!" he snaps his fingers at her making Boo sit up in alert next to the couch thinking he's up for an additional walk today. "No..," Sam tells the dog snapping his fingers again making him lie back down.

He has amazing control over Boo, Andy does too, but Sam has really made the dog his own and she loves watching them run off every morning for their morning jog. She'd join them if it weren't for the fact that Sam is adamant that she not exert herself in that way yet.

He's a mother hen, _seriously_.

"So..," Sam asks moving the desired DVD case in front of her face.

"Fine!" she relents figuring that she'll be dealing with a moping Sam if she doesn't give in – just this once.

Andy enjoys the show though when he squats down in front of the plasma screen to pop the DVD into the DVD player standing underneath the TV.

Sam's ass is truly one of his greatest features. Sure, there's his strong jaw, soft lips and scruffy cheeks when he decides _not_ to shave. But his delectable ass is truly a wonder on its own.

Cocking her head to the side, Andy takes in the full package and it's not a letdown. She fully remembers the last time they watched a movie together – it had actually been a romantic comedy.

Although they hadn't really _watched_ it.

They'd been otherwise _occupied_.

* * *

_Sam's hand was groping her left thigh, molding it as his hips bucked against Andy giving her the friction that she had begged him for. _

"_Oh God, Sam..," she whined turning her head towards the back of the couch, burying her head in the pillow it was resting on._

"_Jesus, you feel good..," he groaned licking his way from her collarbone and to her throat, giving the sensitive skin underneath her ear a little nibble or two._

_Moving her hands down to where the hemline of Sam's blue tee shirt was, Andy began furiously yanking on it. "Take this off," she panted furiously._

"_Alright," he smirked at her before sitting up on his knees. Grabbing the back of his shirt in his hands, Sam hurriedly got it off before throwing it onto the floor. "Happy?" he asks rubbing his hands up and down Andy's denim-clad legs._

"_Very," she bit into her lower lip enjoying the sculpted chest she now had a front view to._

_With their gazes locked, Sam leaned in and began to unbutton her jeans before lowering the zipper. Andy lifted her hips when she felt his fingers inside the waistband of her pants, and flung off her tank top, while Sam threw her jeans onto the floor to join his tee shirt._

"_You're gorgeous," he growled crawling up her body on his hands and knees – careful not to crush her. "Everywhere," Sam panted letting his index finger run along the waistband of Andy's lacey black boy shorts. _

_Not averting his eyes from Andy's, he slipped a finger inside her boy shorts, and they both gasped when he found her core wet and throbbing._

"_Sam!" she yelped just when Sam slid a finger into the wetness._

"_Good?" Sam asked pressing his forehead against Andy's moving that skilled finger forward and backwards in a fluent motion. _

"_Perfect! Oooh!" she gasped right before Sam thrust his tongue into her opened mouth swallowing her cries with his mouth._

* * *

"That was..," Sam pants lying on his back on the couch with Andy nestled on top of him coating his body with a blanket wrapped around their naked forms.

"Mmm..," she acquiesces nodding her head against Sam's warm chest.

"I love movie night," he quips earning him a firm slap on the arm.

"You always know how to ruin a moment," Andy grumbles settling her head underneath his chin.

Running his hands up and down her naked back Sam chuckles lightly before pressing a kiss against Andy's hair. "Sorry."

"I forgive you," she giggles.

"That's good."

"Oh good lord," Andy says seemingly out of the blue.

"What?" Sam asks curiously.

"I think we've scarred him for life," she says pointing to Boo's sleeping frame. The dog had apparently moved from his spot next to the couch and to his basket by the farthest wall during their passionate haze.

Sam follows her gaze and chuckles at the sight of Boo lying on his back with his paws tilted downwards, while his upper body is slightly turned _away _from them.

"He better get used to it."

"I needed this, thanks." Andy says.

He's barely touched her since her altercation with that scum in the back alley. Sam's touch means _everything_ to Andy, and having had to live without his intimate touches has been beyond hard.

"You're welcome," he quips making them both laugh. "Seriously though," Sam amends his previous words. "I'll always want you, Andy. I may hang on a little too tight, but it's only because I love you so much."

Propping herself up on his chest, her eyes take in the honesty of his love that's shining back at her. "I love you too. Always have, always will."

Smiling hesitantly at her, Sam frames her face with his hands before bringing her lips down on his in a soft but promising kiss.

Pulling their lips apart slowly, he asks the one question that seems to have become their mantra of some sort. "No going back?"

"No going back."

**FIN!**


End file.
